Fort Worth Woman Discovers Her Work-From-Home Gig Is Possible Illegal Reshipping Operation
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - It started out as the perfect work-from-home job. But when things didn't add up, a Fort Worth woman called The Ones For Justice.
The packages were piling up on Georgeann Meeks' table.
"I've got two, three-thousand dollars' worth here and more is coming today," Meeks said.
Each box has a different name, with her address. Meeks says the deliveries were part of her job for DFY International.
The company hired her as quality assurance after she posted her resume at Monster.com.
She says DFY offered her a base salary of $3,000 per month plus $50 per package shipped.
She was told to open the boxes, upload photos of the items to DFY, then mail them elsewhere.
"I just reseal the box back up, put this label on it and ship it on," she said.
But after just two days on the job, Meeks became suspicious.
Who paid for the gold bars, gold coins, cell phones and other pricey items?
Who were the people on the labels?
And why were all the high-end goods coming to her first?
"That's why I haven't sent any of these out," said Meeks. "Something's not right."
The Ones For Justice could not reach anyone at DFY International, but there are some red flags on the company's website.
Its headquarters address is a postal center in Boca Raton, Florida, and the company's website looks exactly that those of Galaxy Post Delivery and DD International Delivery.
Same management photos, same customer reviews, all based in Florida.
No one at any of the companies responded to our calls and emails.
Phylissia Clark, with the North Central Texas Better Business Bureau, says Meeks is likely mired in a reshipping operation.
In most reshipping situations, criminals use stolen information to buy things online, then ship the items to other addresses first.
"The more times they pass that packages around the better," said Clark. "The first people that are going to be a target are the people with the shipping address, so it's going to lead back to you."
Clark says once the sellers realize their payments are fraudulent, they typically initiate an investigation that starts with where the item was delivered.
That means the reshipper could end up on the hook while the criminal gets the goods.
"Please be careful!" warns Clark. "You could end up on the wrong side of a fraud case."
Meeks became so worried she stopped shipping the packages and contacted FedEx, Fort Worth Police and the FBI.
While she says she hasn't heard back from the agencies, she is keeping all her records just in case.
"They're going to keep doing it," Meeks said. "And I would really like someone to catch them."