UPS Employee Helps Elderly Man Get Money Back From Scam

cheryl

I started this.
Staff member
UPS Employee Helps Elderly Man Get Money Back From Scam - Fox 8 Cleveland

An 84-year-old Eastlake man got back more than $5,000 he sent to someone who scammed him, thanks to an alert UPS employee, police said.
Eastlake Police Detective Ted Kroczak said the scam started with a phone call to the elderly man.

“They’re actually identifying themselves as federal agents,” Kroczak said.

Kroczak said the convincing scammer told the man he was to get more than $500,000, but first he had to pay the 1% tax on it: $5,250 in cash.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
So, what exactly did the UPS person do that helped?

Had you bothered to click on the link you would have read that the employee in question suspected something wasn't quite right, intercepted/held the package at the customer counter, relayed his concerns to his mgt team who notified the local authorities. Things worked out well in this instance but this seems awfully close to crossing some sort of line in regard to violating the privacy of our customers.
 

Packmule

Well-Known Member
Rarely do I click on links because I find I have a lot fewer computer problems that way. I personally like it when posters on here give us a short, but full picture without the links for that reason. What you wrote is perfect.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Rarely do I click on links because I find I have a lot fewer computer problems that way. I personally like it when posters on here give us a short, but full picture without the links for that reason. What you wrote is perfect.

I apologize for the tone of my post but it irritates me when people ask questions that they could have answered with a click of their mouse.
 

upschuck

Well-Known Member
Things worked out well in this instance but this seems awfully close to crossing some sort of line in regard to violating the privacy of our customers.
If you read the UPS's Tariff, then it is clearly written out that we can do almost anything to their package, for just about any reason. UPS's version of CYA.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
The tariff, in this case, applies if we think the customer is trying to defraud us by sending an unauthorized item(s). In this instance the elderly gentleman was not breaking any rules. I am glad that one of our co-workers suspected something was not quite right and the man got his money back but to be blunt if it is properly packed and not on our banned list we really shouldn't be opening packages based on a gut feeling.


Sent using BrownCafe App
 

Scottyhawk

What is it? A brown box. Duh
After reading the article, it would be nice to know what alerted the UPS employee to the package; was it the driver having a conversation with the sender, was it something to do with the way the package looked, the address it was going to? The article was lacking those kinds of details
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
After reading the article, it would be nice to know what alerted the UPS employee to the package; was it the driver having a conversation with the sender, was it something to do with the way the package looked, the address it was going to? The article was lacking those kinds of details

I would have to think that the guy being 84 he probably told his life story to the clerk and the clerk did the right thing.

I have had several instances in the past where I have suspected the contents of the package were not as described and in both cases it turns out the consignee was trying to ship booze/wine through a commercial customer counter (Staples/UPS Store).
 

upschuck

Well-Known Member
The tariff, in this case, applies if we think the customer is trying to defraud us by sending an unauthorized item(s). In this instance the elderly gentleman was not breaking any rules. I am glad that one of our co-workers suspected something was not quite right and the man got his money back but to be blunt if it is properly packed and not on our banned list we really shouldn't be opening packages based on a gut feeling.


Sent using BrownCafe App
We can stop/delay any shipment that we believe is fraudulent, be from the shipper side, or the consignee side. We have the right to open any package. Item 6 in tariff states:
UPS reserves the right in its sole discretion to open and inspect any shipment tendered to it for transportation, but is not required to do so.
 

Operational needs

Virescit Vulnere Virtus
It's so sad that there are parasites in this world who try, and do, take money away from old people who worked hard their whole lives for their money and may be on a fixed income. I wonder how they sleep at night.
 
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