Sellers beware of a return scam - changing delivery address on returns label

[fos1133]

We have had two buyers try to scam us recently using eBay returns. It appears that they open a return as normal on eBay and obtain their Royal Mail Tracked Returns label. However, the item is returned to a different address delivered by the same Royal Mail delivery office, so it appears that it has been delivered and eBay will accept it as delivered. Both times that this happened I know that the address was somehow changed on the returns label as I know where it was delivered to and it was not us, although I do not know what was actually returned as I didn't see the parcel (it could be an empty box - the first time it happened I was told it weighed 200g when the item should have been around 8kg). Both times I contacted eBay customer support and after investigating the buyer, they closed their accounts as there must have been a pattern of similar behaviour.

[4_bathrooms]

This used to be prevalent when Royal Mail's online delivery confirmations only showed the name of the Delivery Office and a status of "Delivered". Now, most services from Large Letter up have a GPS scan and anything "Tracked" normally has a picture as well.

---

@fos1133 wrote:

Both times I contacted eBay customer support and after investigating the buyer, they closed their accounts as there must have been a pattern of similar behaviour.

---

 Did eBay also reimburse you or otherwise not require you to refund those buyers? 

[fos1133]

eBay closed the return with no buyer refund when they closed the accounts. Strangely, neither of the returns in question had GPS locations on the tracking page, but the delivery office had the GPS data so they knew where it was delivered to.

[repairdontdespair]

This happened to me! I even got a letter from Royal Mail admitting they delivered the return to the (fraudulent) changed address. No apology or compensation though... idiot company. Had a lovely eBay support rep refund me 100% before Royal Mail had even confirmed. I assume the buyer account (0 feedback ofc) had suspicious activity.

I don't know how you can protect yourself against this one. Its foolproof. Horrible system. My buyer had the original shipping address as a petrol station, I knew it would go wrong...

I reported them to action fraud and they said they can't investigate further - I think they just couldn't be bothered. 

it truly is a buyers game and sellers have to work in losses and fraud into their finances so much 😞

[rjwilmsi]

OK, well some dodgy buyers/scammers will try all sorts of desparate things I suppose.

You would think that as the RM label is pre-generated and the QR code includes the destination postcode and first line of address (if you scan the QR code with a phone you will see it embedded in there) that Royal Mail would sort the item for delivery based on the QR code, then when it came to manual sorting for actual delivery they would identify the discrepancy and hold the item. So in my view it is scammers exploiting a weakness in how RM operate. Hopefully RM will pick up on this and shut down this avenue of scamming.

As a seller I don't see that you can do much about it. If it happens you contact eBay - with delivery to a completely different location it must be obvious to show to eBay that you didn't receive the return (and it wasn't just a misdelivery to a neighbour/next street over etc.) so eBay need to cover you.

[4_bathrooms]

---

@rjwilmsi wrote:

You would think that as the RM label is pre-generated and the QR code includes the destination postcode and first line of address (if you scan the QR code with a phone you will see it embedded in there) that Royal Mail would sort the item for delivery based on the QR code, then when it came to manual sorting for actual delivery they would identify the discrepancy and hold the item. So in my view it is scammers exploiting a weakness in how RM operate. Hopefully RM will pick up on this and shut down this avenue of scamming.

---

Indeed; it seems to rely on the Postie just looking at the address then taking it to that door. Interestingly if the address label doesn't/didn't have a QR code (like Large Letter before they started scanning them) the address label would include that "ebay123abc" code in it. I suspect this was some sort of agreement between eBay and Royal Mail where items addressed this way would be checked during manual sorting. At least, the number of reports from buyers experiencing "ghost" deliveries and sellers receiving "ghost" returns seemed to reduce dramatically when that was introduced. 

[fos1133]

I don't think the returns labels contain the eBay unique id... Good point though with the QR code scan as the postie should see the correct address that was booked when the returns label was generated and see it is not the same as on the physical label - I'll ask our collection postie about this when we get today's collection. Maybe they just revert to the old-school method once in the hands of the delivery postie.

[bilhus-37]

Hi 

any advice on how you get this sorted and closed in our favour as we are going through the exact same thing on a high value item weights don't match never sent it back to us showing delivered from same delivery office 

[fos1133]

Contact the delivery office and ask them exactly where it was delivered to (or check the GPS map location on the tracking link if there is one). Phone eBay and report the buyer - if there is other suspicious activity showing on their account eBay should do something about it. On two occasions that this has happened to us the buyer accounts have been closed by eBay.

[papso22]

For GDPR reasons the courier cannot say where something went, just where it didn't go.  So you have to give them the address it should have gone to and they confirm, or deny, that it went there. 

[bilhus-37]

Thank you we will do we are just waiting for a denial receipt from Royal Mail and I may even go down to the delivery office tomorrow to see if its possible to get GPS information quicker thanks again will keep you updated 

[bilhus-37]

Hi 

thank you I have been told it's a Denial receipt which you have to get from RM this is very concerning as every order could be a possible fraud and it's so easily done however we have noticed it all coming from the same post office the returns 

[fos1133]

We didn't bother with the denial of receipt form as we didn't claim from Royal Mail - they knew that they didn't deliver the parcel to us as the tracking showed them where they delivered it to. Just try and find out where the parcel was actually delivered to using the tracking number and tell eBay. At least if Royal Mail can confirm to you that the parcel was not delivered to you, see if eBay is happy with that.

[bmann-2000]

I'm victim of same scam, eBay are asking me to contact Royal Mail by email and ask for Proof of Non-Delivery.  RM will not say where it is delivered, but they will confirm it was not to your addess.  eBay are making this scam worse by not showing the seller the tracking number of the return, so you don't find out it's gone to another address until several days after the delivery when you receive a case-closed in favour of buyer email from eBay.  The GPS coordinates displayed with the tracking number are accurate enough to pin-point the exact house, not ideal if your in a flat.  However, you do not want to receive the delivery because it will not contain your goods.  If you do track it down, make a video of opening it just encase eBay dispute it. 

eBay allow the scammers into their plaform, then when the scam happens, they push all the work of sorting it out into the seller or Royal Mail.  You do however, eventually get your money back.

[fos1133]

Supposedly, when the delivery officer scans the parcel they should be able to see the address on the label is different to the correct address on their device (that was originally on the label). I told our local delivery office to look out for this, but I doubt they will double check every delivery.

[bmann-2000]

Royal Mail could prevent the fraud by automating a match of barcode & address, technically the hardware of the scanner is most likely capable of that task.

Return scams are still a significant risk for eBay sellers.  I notice some eBay sellers stating that they mark their electronic parts (gaming console power supplies) with UV pen to identify them, as it's common for people to use the replacement part, then return the broke part for a refund, claiming it's the part the seller sent out.

[bilhus-37]

Hi just a quick update so we got re solved eBay closed the return in our favour what you need to do is contact Royal Mail Mail for a denial receipt which they will post out to you confirming the parcel wasn't delivered to your address via gps signal going forward we will only use DPD for our returns as we have to upload the label as they are some how changing the address on the return even on royal mails system which makes me think it has to be some one inside Royal Mail changing the address 

[4_bathrooms]

---

@bilhus-37 wrote:

going forward we will only use DPD for our returns as we have to upload the label as they are some how changing the address on the return even on royal mails system which makes me think it has to be some one inside Royal Mail changing the address 

---

They're not changing anything on Royal Mail's system. They're editing the PDF address label to a nearby address (served by the same Delivery Office) before printing it. The only reason this scam works is because the postie delivering the item relies solely on the address shown on the label when delivering. The QR code is not human-readable, the postie simply goes to the address shown on the label, scans the code and either hands the item over, shoves it through the letterbox or chucks it in that infamous "safe place" the recycling bin (on collection day). You won the claim because the GPS location recorded when the item was scanned did not match the delivery address that was on the label originally generated.

This would not work with most (maybe all) couriers because they don't rely on the address shown on the label; they rely on their barcode from collection to delivery. When the delivery driver's van is loaded their GPS has a calculated route that takes them directly to each delivery address as recorded on the system. Any mismatch between the address on the system and that on the label would therefore be obvious.

Anyway, I'm glad you managed to get it all sorted.

[alico2023]

action fraud !00% pointless

[alico2023]

ebay been around over 20yrs yet they still aint figured anything out. so long as they make there money they careless.  ebay took my listing down for selleng replica batterys, yet ebay is full of sellers with these batterys.  weired