Cyber Monday Scams Involving False Tracking or Wrong Items

Enter the number on the carrier’s official website rather than relying on a seller’s screenshot. Compare the shipment dates, destination information, and delivery photograph or signature, if available. A delivery dated before your purchase or showing a different location calls for clarification. Ask the carrier what it can confirm about delivery to your address and retain its written response or inquiry number. It may restrict information about another recipient.

Capture the marketplace status and carrier history with the date, order identifier, and tracking number visible. Save earlier numbers if the seller replaces them. For effective evidence preservation, retain original emails and downloaded records alongside screenshots, keeping annotations on separate copies.

Check the address entered at checkout, household members, building reception, and any designated delivery location. Request a carrier inquiry and preserve available doorbell footage before automatic deletion. A correct delivery followed by package theft presents a different issue from a seller supplying an unrelated tracking number. Record what you checked without claiming to know who took a package.

Photograph the outer packaging, shipping label, seals, contents, and identifying marks before discarding or returning anything. Compare the label’s tracking number with the number attached to the order. Note whether the item differs in model, quantity, or function rather than describing it only as “fake.”

A tracking number supplied after payment cannot, by itself, explain why you initially paid. Preserve the listing or message that induced the purchase, then show how later delivery records contradict it. Repeatedly supplying unrelated numbers or insisting on delivery after receiving contrary carrier information may warrant investigation. Penal Code § 532(b) also imposes corroboration requirements for proving false pretenses, so supporting writings or other qualifying evidence matter. A buyer need not assemble a trial-ready case before reporting suspected fraud.

Ask the seller specific written questions about the shipment and preserve its answers, including any correction or refund. Platform remedies, payment disputes, and potential consumer fraud claims involve different standards from criminal prosecution. Contact the payment provider promptly rather than waiting for a police investigation. Federal credit-card billing protections differ from debit-card protections and platform policies. Describe an authorized purchase that was not delivered as agreed accurately, rather than labeling the payment itself unauthorized.

Include the following information where available:

• Purchase date, promised goods, amount paid, and transaction identifier
• Seller profile, listing URL, contact details, and payment recipient
• Tracking numbers, carrier findings, and actual receipt details
• Seller explanations, platform decisions, refunds, and remaining loss

Separate observed facts from suspected explanations. Save a copy of your IC3 submission before closing the confirmation page. IC3 does not accept evidence attachments, so retain originals securely for any investigating agency. Filing a report does not guarantee investigation, prosecution, or repayment.

Document the item and packaging first, then check applicable return instructions and deadlines. If an investigator has requested the physical item, ask how to handle it before shipping it elsewhere. Keep return authorization, shipment tracking, and proof of delivery if you return it.

Yes. Provide the account name, profile URL, messages, and payment identifiers you have. Label an identity as unverified rather than assuming the displayed name belongs to the person responsible.