Reshipping scam: what to report after packages arrive

A package is on your kitchen table, or several have already left. The recruiter has stopped answering about pay, and the job no longer makes sense. You do not need to finish the next shipment to explain what happened. Your immediate task is to stop the activity and turn scattered messages, labels and receipts into a record someone else can understand. This guide concerns reporting in the United States, including the practical limits of the reporting forms.

What changes once you have actually handled packages? #

The FTC’s reshipping alert describes fake jobs that use stolen payment details to obtain goods and ask a home worker to repackage and forward them. Missing pay can be one consequence; exposure of your identity can be another. You may have information about the movement of goods even if you never sent the recruiter money. Explain your role accurately rather than treating the whole event as only an unpaid job application.

Separate what you know from what you suspect. You know the label you received, the address printed on it and the instructions in a message. You may not know who purchased the contents or whether a named company was impersonated. Record both kinds of information without filling in the gaps. The existing packing scam guide helps identify warning signs, but your report needs your actual sequence of events, not a copied description of how scams generally work.

What should you do with a package still in your home? #

Stop acting on the recruiter’s dispatch instructions. Keep ordinary packages and their original labels available while obtaining guidance from the carrier or authorities through independently found contact details. Do not sell the contents, throw away receipts, or send goods to a new address supplied in the same suspect conversation. An instruction described as a return can still be another forwarding step. Ask how the package should be handled and record who gave you that instruction.

There is no universal instruction here to open every parcel or post every box back immediately. The appropriate handling can depend on the item, carrier and circumstances. If someone is threatening an immediate collection or you feel in danger, contact local police; use 911 for immediate danger. Keep personal safety separate from evidence preservation. A complaint confirmation is not an instruction to meet the recruiter, confront a driver or investigate the business yourself.

How do you build a useful parcel-by-parcel record? #

Give each physical box a reference you can use in your notes. Connect its incoming tracking number to any outgoing tracking number. Add the dates you received instructions, received the box and handed it over, if applicable. Keep your packing photograph separate from an image the recruiter supplied. If you are reconstructing events from memory, label them as approximate. This keeps a mistaken date from looking like a deliberate contradiction when a receipt later supplies the exact time.

Save communications in their original form where possible, including sender details and complete email headers. A cropped screenshot can omit the account name or date needed to connect an instruction to a package. Preserve the offer, task dashboard, payment promise and changes to destination. Store a working copy for your chronology while retaining the originals. Do not keep logging into a suspicious portal or installing its software merely to collect more screenshots; preserve what you already have safely.

1. 1

   List the goods movement

   For each box, pair inbound and outbound tracking, dates and receipts. Say explicitly which boxes remain with you and which facts are unknown.

2. 2

   List the instructions

   Identify the email, phone number, website or messaging account that supplied each direction. Preserve changes, including requests to remove receipts or alter names.

3. 3

   List the exposure

   Separate money you paid from money you merely expected. Note the identity documents, bank details, passwords or software access you provided.

4. 4

   Write a short chronology

   Describe your first contact, what you believed the task was, what you did and when you became concerned. Use dates and direct observations rather than conclusions about the recruiter’s identity.

Which US reporting route fits the incident? #

The USPIS reporting page provides a mail fraud route for suspected scams related to U.S. Mail. It distinguishes that from delivery delays and service issues, which go to USPS help. Use the relevant crime route when reporting a suspected reshipping scheme, rather than submitting only a missing-package service request. An internet-based recruitment or fraud element can also be described to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3. Neither route requires you to prove the whole scheme before explaining your experience.

IC3’s official FAQ says it does not accept attachments: retain the evidence yourself. It also says to save or print the complaint before leaving the submission page because it does not email a copy. If you later have additional information, its instruction is to file a new complaint explaining the connection to the earlier one. These form limits matter when your file contains photographs and labels; describe them clearly without assuming they were uploaded with your narrative.

Keep a separate record of each agency contact and its reference. A report does not guarantee an investigation, package interception, reimbursement or regular updates. For a time-sensitive situation, contact local law enforcement directly rather than waiting for an online queue. If you have a bank transaction at risk, contact the bank as well. Give the same accurate chronology across those contacts, adding what each organization needs, instead of rewriting events to fit the category of its form.

What if the recruiter also has your SSN or bank details? #

Use IdentityTheft.gov for guidance about the information exposed. According to the FTC’s credit-protection page, a credit freeze is free, lasts until you lift it and requires contacting all three major credit bureaus. An initial fraud alert lasts one year and starts with one bureau, which must notify the other two. These tools concern new credit; they do not replace speaking to your bank about an existing account or changing an exposed password.

Write down what you actually shared: an account number is different from online banking credentials, and an ID photograph is different from a portal password. Contact the relevant institution through its official app or website. Do not send another identity photograph to someone who messages you claiming to be a recovery officer. Keep access to your records after changing credentials. If a compromised account contains your only copies of receipts, arrange a safe copy while securing it.

How do you separate shipping costs from a claimed loss? #

Do not turn the value printed on a label into unpaid earnings. As a comparison, AirPost’s US-to-US tariff page, retrieved October 14, 2026, showed a small-package USPS Ground Advantage starting price of approximately $7.78, with the platform fee included and sender compensation additional. Four labels at that indication would be $31.12. That is a hypothetical postage subtotal. It is neither the goods’ value nor a worker’s fee, and it is not evidence of your incident’s loss.

In a real sender arrangement, record the agreed fee separately from the shop’s shipping spend. The AirPost payout commission constant is 3%, checked October 14, 2026; apply it to earned fees, not to a promise in a suspect job dashboard. Describe money actually paid, expected pay and goods held in separate entries. The sender workflow explains shop-owned stock and order preparation. It does not establish that an unrelated recruiter, parcel or contract is genuine.