CLEVELAND — The holidays can be an expensive time, with people trying to pick up extra work to make ends meet. But you need to be careful if that seasonal position seems too good to be true, like work-from-home reshipping jobs, for example.
The Better Business Bureau Serving Greater Cleveland shared this report they received with us:
"More than one person told me that they would be sending me packages to my house and i would have to resend them out with labels. I was told to print them out and i would make $4,800 monthly. This was the curve ball (beware). They told me I would have to wait 30 days to get paid because of some verification or something like that.
"I worked for 30 days for them and as soon as day 23 came, I didn't get an answer for 4 days. On day 27 I called him and asked him if I was going to get packages and he said, 'It’s slow right now, we will be sending packages out soon.' That’s the last time I heard from them. I never got paid and I worked for weeks."
THE QUESTION
So let's VERIFY: Is every job post for reshipping work at home a scam?
SOURCES
Our sources are:
- The Better Business Bureau Serving Greater Cleveland
- The job matching website Indeed
- The United States Postal Inspection Service
EXPLANATION
Pam Anson from the Better Business Bureau told me people who are looking for seasonal work should be be cautious of the promise of high wages for simple tasks like reshipping packages, stuffing envelopes, or answering phones. Anson says this is a red flag.
According to Indeed's career guide, "there are no legitimate work opportunities that involve receiving packages and shipping them to someone else from your home."
Postal Inspector Ian Ortega also told me, "Modern mailing techniques and equipment have virtually eliminated the need for homeworkers to perform legitimate envelope stuffing, addressing, and mailing services."
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service warns that if you're offered at home reshipping work, "these packages often contain merchandise bought with stolen credit cards or counterfeit money orders."
By reshipping those items, you would be committing a felony.
ANSWER
So we can VERIFY: Yes, every job post for reshipping work at home is a scam.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Keep in mind when you’re looking for temporary work that the Better Business Bureau Scam Tracker Risk Report shows that employment scams are among the top holiday scams, and they were the second riskiest of all scams in 2023.
Remember, if you see something you want us to fact check, you can send it our way at VERIFY@wkyc.com.