Not What You Bargained For?

The UK media has had a plethora of stories of people ordering high value electronics (iPhones, MacBooks and Play Station 5s etc) from Amazon and actually receiving packages containing customised dog food, rice or cereals (https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1711387/Amazon-order-mix-up-dog-food-MacBook-Pro-refund). These events have been dismissed as 'mixups of orders'. Suspiciously, however, the delivered package often had exactly the same weight, as the missing piece of electronics. This could well turn out to be a sophisticated criminal 'enterprise' to steal unprotected electronic items for resale. Mobiles etc are now generally sold with reset and/or tracking protections. Some customers have found it hard to get Amazon to admit any liability, when their £1300 mobile turns into 2 packets of dog food. Amazon often initially claimed that, as the package had been delivered and the customer had signed for it, it was someone else's responsibility. Predictably, the police have been unable/unwilling to act. When radio or TV consumer affairs programmes become involved, however, Amazon often 'changes its tune' and compensates folk. People have now been advised to video the openning of any package, likely to contain a high value item. This would ensure they had evidence. Using a credit card, to make the order, also gives customers some protection. This scam, however, needs to be rooted out, before it gives online ordering a bad name.