Wisconsin Better Business Bureau: BBB Alert: Shipping/reshipping scheme claiming Milwaukee addresses

CONTACT: Lisa Schiller, Media Relations
PHONE: 414- 847- 6055
FAX: 414-302- 0355
E-MAIL: lschiller@wisconsin.bbb.org

Milwaukee, Wis. – The BBB Serving Wisconsin is warning consumers nationwide of a shipping and reshipping scam believed to be using Milwaukee office building addresses.

The BBB file opened on “Pick And Send” (which is also doing business under the name “Ship-It-Now”) on May 16, 2014. Since then, our office has been receiving roughly six inquiries per day, from consumers across the country who report being contacted by this company and offered a work-at-home “shipping and receiving operator” job.

Consumers from Missouri and Kansas tell the BBB that, after they accepted the “job”, they were required to send a copy of their driver’s license, and were then sent boxes containing toys, iPhones, iPads, and other items that they were then instructed to reship to Moscow, Russia. Payments of up to $1700 per month were promised but never received.

The telephone numbers this company is using and listing on its websites have 414 and 262 area codes, but are in fact Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIp) numbers. A VoIP call may appear local or have a U.S. area code, but in fact, can be coming from outside the country.

Emails sent to the company by the BBB have gone unanswered. The BBB has not been able to get through to the company via its listed telephone numbers.

The addresses the company lists on its websites are downtown Milwaukee office buildings. However, after checking with building management for both buildings, the BBB has confirmed that neither building has ever had a tenant with these names.

Neither “Pick And Send” nor “Ship-It-Now” are incorporated nor registered with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (Secretary of State), according to its website, and neither can be found as listed businesses in the state.

According to the URL information, www.pick-and-send.com was created on 3/3/14 and has a private domain. Its registration address is Queensland, Australia. The website has been suspended as of 6/26/14.

According to the URL information, http://www.send-it-off.com/?p=index was created on 6/2/14 and also has a private domain. Its registration address is also Queensland, Australia.

Shipping/Reshipping scams typically have the following signs:

– Company initiates contact with you from a generic or free online web email address.
– Company website domain was recently registered.
– Company requires you to receive and ship packages (normally overseas) for a promised commission.
– Company claims to reimburse for shipping costs or provides a carrier account number (likely set up through stolen financial information or is stolen account information from a legitimate company).
– Company is not located in the United States or is conducting business only with clients overseas.
– Misspelled words and grammatical errors appear in the job offer and corresponding emails.
– Employment starts without a face to face interview. The employer requires personal information without providing a detailed job description.
– Company information cannot be verified.
– Job description promises high income for very little time and effort; no experience necessary.

The BBB urges extreme caution when responding to job ads via email and reminds consumers if an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Consumers with cross-border complaints can report them to the Federal Trade Commission: https://econsumer.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/ and the FBI’s IC3 website: http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/default.aspx.

For more information or further inquiries, contact the Wisconsin BBB at www.bbb.org/wisconsin or 414-847-6000 (metro Milwaukee), 920-734-4352 (Appleton), 608-268-2221 (Madison) or 1-800-273-1002 (elsewhere in Wisconsin). Consumers also can find more information about how to protect themselves from scams by following the Wisconsin BBB on Twitter, Facebook and You Tube.