BBB: ‘Reshipping scam’ poses as job opportunity

JACKSON, Tenn. — The Better Business Bureau of the Midsouth would like to make you aware of a new scam going around.

“It’s shocking. This is something you only see on TV,” said Keshay Fitzgerald, a victim of the scam.

That is what most people would think if they heard of this situation, but for Fitzgerald, she now knows it can happen to anyone in real life.

And it all started with a simple Indeed.com search for a work-from-home job.

“I did the application, had an email received where I was to send my email, phone number, address and identification,” Fitzgerald said. “I did all of that. I got hired, and after that, it was like I was working for them.”

It turns out the “company” who was advertised as Matson Group — which she thought she was working for — was not actually that.

It was an organized theft crime, where Fitzgerald would ship items to various addresses for a month straight, but when it came time to get paid, all communication stopped.

“I felt kind of iffy because I couldn’t reach anybody. I kept calling supervisors. They wouldn’t answer. I kept getting sent to the shipping department voicemail. I was emailing, texting, still no answer, and I went to log into my account and was completely kicked out of it,” Fitzgerald said.

At that point, she reached out to the Better Business Bureau, where she found out she was had fallen victim to a popular scam.

Daniel Irwin, with the bureau, says it is a scam he knows all too well.

‘This is the most popular job scam that we see here in the midsouth. We call it a ‘reshipping scam,'” Irwin said.

Irwin says the agency has received over 250 reports of the reshipping scam over the past three years.

There are already four reports filed this year in West Tennessee.

He says scammers are getting smarter every day on learning how to reel a victim in.

“It’s usually through a legitimate job board like Indeed.com. The scammer will say they saw the victim’s resume. Sometimes it’s an actual job post that you apply to,” Irwin said.

He says the convenience these jobs advertised and the pay is what appeals to people just like Fitzgerald.

“The $45 bonus, the $4,200 average monthly salary, and the $2,450 base salary. So I was like, ‘Okay. I got a good job,'” Fitzgerald said.

Not to mention, the documents Fitzgerald shared actually appeared authentic, but in fact, they were not either.

“Sometimes they actually will say that they’re with a legitimate company that you might have heard of. It is very hard to tell what is real and what is not. You fill out all your personal information, you give them all your banking info, they have you do employee training,” Irwin said.

Irwin also says the items you are sending are actually items purchased through stolen credit cards. So that puts you at-risk even more for getting into legal trouble.

Fitzgerald says she would’ve never imagined this would be the situation she would be in.

She has a message so someone else doesn’t get scammed like she did.

“I cannot express enough that you have to do research. The way things are going today, you shouldn’t even go through with a job position until you get an official contact. It’s a tough pill to swallow, it really is,” Fitzgerald said.

Irwin says to remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.

He adds if you feel you are being scammed, make sure you contact your local Better Business Bureau and law enforcement.

You can find more local news through the WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News app.