Shipping agent asks you to move money? US scam checks

The first task involved boxes. The next message says the company needs your help processing customer payments, issuing refunds or paying a supplier. It may call this shipping support and promise an extra commission. Treat the change as a new task requiring a new decision. Handling a shop’s identified products does not explain why sales money should pass through your personal bank account. The question is now who owns the funds, where they came from and why you are being asked to move them.

When does package work become a money-transfer role? #

Follow the movement, not the label on the role. Receiving your own compensation ends with money you earned. Receiving another person’s funds and forwarding them on instruction makes you an intermediary. The FBI’s money-mule guidance warns against job offers using your account to transfer money. It includes several methods, such as bank transfers, cashier’s checks, virtual currency and prepaid cards. A scheme does not need cryptocurrency to raise this concern.

Ask whether you are being paid for a defined service or asked to act as a temporary payment channel. A recruiter may say a business account is unavailable, a supplier cannot accept the company’s payment or a customer refund needs your help. None of those explanations shows that your account should be involved. You can pause without proving that a crime occurred. The payment task is already materially different from printing labels and packing stock.

Does keeping a commission make the transfer legitimate? #

No. The FBI lists keeping part of transferred money among money-mule recruitment patterns. Its guidance distinguishes people who do not know the scheme, people who ignore warning signs and people who knowingly participate. That distinction is a warning to take new information seriously, not a test you can use to declare yourself legally safe. If your bank or another source flags the activity, do not continue simply because the recruiter calls your cut wages.

The Postal Inspection Service’s money-mule page connects work-from-home recruitment with reshipping, gift cards, Postal Money Orders and transfers. Those are different instruments within the same risk: a stranger directs you to move value. A commission can make the request attractive while obscuring the fact that most of the transaction belongs to somebody else. Evaluate the whole movement, not only the portion the offer says you may keep.

Do not treat a payment received once as proof of future legitimacy. A small successful transaction does not explain the next sender, recipient or larger task. Nor does a recognizable bank name establish the source of the funds. Keep your service record separate from the transaction record. The record of boxes you packed cannot, on its own, justify money arriving from an unrelated individual whose name appears nowhere in your agreement.

Would a new business account solve the problem? #

Opening an account does not make the underlying money lawful. The FBI specifically warns about employers asking someone to form a company to open a new bank account. The CFPB’s money-mule guidance also advises against opening bank or cryptocurrency accounts at another person’s direction. These sources were checked October 14, 2026. A business name can add paperwork without answering why the recruiter needs you as the receiving and forwarding party.

Keep account ownership and operating authority in view. Who would know the login? Who chooses the beneficiaries? Who contacts the bank when a payment is disputed? A recruiter asking for one-time codes or remote access is not merely asking for your payment details. Do not create an account in your name while allowing a stranger to control it. If the proposed work is genuinely a financial role, the actual organization and its processes need independent verification beyond an earlier packing conversation.

An application approved by a bank is also not a finding that every later transfer is legitimate. The business purpose and transaction still need an explanation. You do not need to create the requested account to find out whether the role is real. Check the organization through independently obtained contacts first. If you already opened one or shared access, tell the institution that context when asking how to secure it; do not rely on instructions from the person who requested it.

What should you tell the bank if funds have arrived? #

The CFPB recommends stopping communication with the person asking you to move money or property, telling your financial institution and considering an account change. Contact the bank through its official app, website or statement. Explain that a shipping job led to a request to receive or forward third-party funds. Include whether money remains in the account, has gone out or is only expected. Ask the bank what to do with the actual transaction rather than sending a manual refund to satisfy the recruiter.

1. 1

   Identify the incoming payment

   Record the date, amount, sender as shown by your bank and transaction reference. Distinguish posted money from a screenshot or promise supplied by the recruiter.

2. 2

   Preserve the onward instruction

   Keep the requested recipient, account details, payment method and message directing the transfer. Record whether that recipient differs from the original sender.

3. 3

   List what you actually sent

   Supply the bank or provider with outgoing references and receipts. Include gift cards or money orders if used, without assuming they are equivalent to a bank transfer.

4. 4

   Explain the job connection

   Provide the recruiter’s contact, the original packing duties and the point at which money movement became part of the request. Keep guesses about identity separate from verified details.

Do not move the money to another account yourself merely to make it feel safer. Do not send the recruiter a balance screenshot or authentication code as proof that you called the bank. Follow the institution’s directions and retain the contact reference. If the incident includes exposed credentials, identity documents or software access, describe those as well. A bank cannot respond properly to an account-compromise problem if it is told only that a packing wage has arrived late.

Where do you report the shipping-and-payment scheme? #

The FBI directs money-mule reports to IC3. USPIS provides a report route for the postal element and advises reporting suspected money-mule email or social-media scams to the platform provider. The FTC’s money-mule alert says to stop transfers and notify involved banks, transfer services or gift-card companies. Use these official routes independently of the recruiter. Saving evidence and contacting the bank are practical steps even if you have not yet calculated a loss.

Describe the same event consistently across your contacts. Keep incoming funds, outgoing funds, unpaid service fees and goods movement distinct. A payment dispute is not automatically a criminal finding, and this article cannot decide your legal position. If you need advice about your own participation, seek qualified help using your actual records. Do not keep transferring while waiting for promised pay, or pay a recovery intermediary who reaches you through the same unverified conversation.

How does documented sender compensation differ? #

The AirPost sender page describes a shop sending stock and packaging, a sender preparing its orders and the sender earning their own agreed fee. The stock remains the shop’s property, and stored goods are not insured by AirPost. That workflow does not describe recruiting senders to collect the shop’s sales proceeds through personal accounts. Identify the products, instructions and fee before beginning. For general warning signs about the goods, see the packing scam guide.

Here is a separate shipping-budget example. The US-to-US AirPost options page, retrieved October 14, 2026, displayed small-package USPS Ground Advantage from approximately $7.78, including the platform fee but excluding sender compensation. Five labels at that indication total $38.90. This is hypothetical postage arithmetic, not available orders or an instruction to route the shop’s money through your bank. Booking details can change the actual shipping quote.

Your service-fee calculation is separate. AirPost’s shared payout commission is 3%, checked that day, and your arrangement determines the earned amount and payout currency. A payment to you for completed work has an identifiable basis. An instruction to receive unrelated customer funds, deduct a cut and forward the remainder has another structure. Do not allow a correct postage subtotal or a familiar platform name to conceal that change in the task you are being asked to perform.