Local woman warns about massive online scheme targeted at package pickups

ALLEGHENY CO., Pa. — Ohio Township police are investigating a massive online scheme in our area that cost a woman hundreds of dollars.

After a local woman noticed a huge charge on her online Target account, she found out she was targeted. But it also appears the person who picked up the item at the store was fooled.

It’s all part of a larger scheme, police said.

“I noticed my email was getting flooded with spam, just tons of emails. And then Wednesday night I was going through all my orders, and there was one that said, ‘thank you for your order at Target,’” the woman said.

However, she told Channel 11 she never purchased anything from Target. Shortly after that, another email came through saying her order had been picked up at Target on Mount Nebo.

After checking her Target account, the woman learned a $460 charge was made. Her bank told her to call the police and say her Target account had been hacked.

The police were able to find out almost immediately who picked up the package because they switched the name of the pick-up person, which allowed that person to show their ID at the store.

Ohio Township police said it is an ongoing investigation, but no charges have been filed against the person who picked up the item.

“Websites are hiring people in the area to pick up these packages or items and then ship them to an employer, so it’s a big scam,” the woman said.

All the emails the woman go in her inbox were likely the result of “email bombing.” That is when a fake company floods your account with spam to hide a legitimate notification of a purchase they made from your account.

The Better Business Bureau said email bombing is definitely a tell-tale sign that someone is trying to rip you off.

“It’s not uncommon for scammers to implement email bombing in order to distract people from seeing important notices about their account activity to disguise fraudulent transactions,” said Caitlin Driscoll, with the BBB.

Driscoll said if this happens to you, immediately log into any shopping accounts you have and check for recent orders.

You can report a company to the BBB here.

Cox Media Group