21Investigates Scam Alert: BBB warns ‘Re-shipping’ jobs could be trying to scam you

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) – For many people job searching, their days are often spent scrolling through hundreds of job postings. But there’s one job in particular that isn’t exactly what it says to be.

Many people are looking for a remote position, oftentimes so they can make some extra cash outside of their 9 to 5. But if you see a job saying you’ll be “re-shipping” packages, you need to be careful.

The job descriptions say they’re looking for people to receive packages, inspect them for damage and then reship them to a new address. It sounds easy – but it’s usually too good to be true.

The Better Business Bureau has received multiple reports of companies with generic names like “Cargo LLC” or “Shipping Cargo Inc” saying they found somebody’s resume online and that they’d be a great fit for the job.

But the problem starts when they say, “you’re hired!” Jan Diaz with the Northern Indiana BBB says, “The fake employer just disappears. They vanish. And they’ve received the information that they’ve wanted from their victim, which is their social security number, date of birth, bank account, just any, any personal identifying information. And it’s left that person vulnerable to identity theft.”

Diaz also says in some scenarios, “They will actually allow that quote on quote employee to start a fake job and begin receiving and reshipping packages, but they never get paid because it’s all fake. So often, if they can find someone to, work for them, a lot of times the packages that they’re having them ship contain illegally obtained items.”

She explains any jobs under the “re-shipping category” should stand out as a red flag and you should never hand any of your personal information over to these suspicious employers.

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