WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission says offers for remote jobs that involve receiving packages at home, repackaging them, and forwarding them to another address are scams designed to move stolen goods. These fake job listings often use titles such as “delivery operations specialist” or “quality control manager” and promise easy money for minimal work. In reality, the items shipped to the victim’s address are purchased with stolen credit cards or compromised accounts. Victims are typically told to remove original packaging and receipts before resending the merchandise, usually to an international location. They promise a salary never arrives, and the supposed employer disappears.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, many victims also discover their personal information—provided during the fake application process—has been misused, leading to identity theft. The FTC states that legitimate companies do not hire people to reship merchandise bought with stolen payment information. Consumers are advised to search the employer’s name along with words like “scam” or “complaint,” discuss any job offer with a trusted person, and visit IdentityTheft.gov/steps if they have already shared sensitive information. Suspicious offers should be reported to ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at uspis.gov/report.
