Regina man swamped with parcels realizes they are elements of an online scam

Mickey Kupchyk is getting swamped with parcels that he did not order.

He said he has received at least 80 at his Regina home already this year, but none has his name on them.

After doing some digging, the 68-year-old found it is all a part of a Facebook Marketplace scam.

Kupchyk said it has been happening since July 2022. The unsolicited parcels show up almost every other week from across the country, but mostly B.C., Ontario and Quebec. They contain a variety of contents, from expensive ski boots to items of clothing, but always also have a gift card included.

"A lot of times at first there was no name on the package at all, so we actually opened some just to find out. But there was always a gift card in there," Kupchyk said.

"We knew it wasn't for us. We just sealed it and took it back to the post office and had it returned. We had no idea why these things were coming to our doorstep."

Kupchyk said the packages will show up with the names Gabby Grimes, or lately Gabby Martina, as the intended recipient.

Things started to become clearer when he received a phone call in January from a woman in Lethbridge, Alta., who had looked up his address on the internet and found his name and phone number.

"She asks, 'is there a Gabby living at this address?' I say no and she says, 'Oh well, I was selling something on Facebook Marketplace, and this person wanted me to ship this package to Gabby in Regina.' She grew suspicious and that's how she tracked me down."

After speaking with more of these senders, Kupchyk pieced together the scam.

He said it begins with an apparent buyer contacting someone selling something on Facebook Marketplace. In addition to the listed item, they ask the seller to send a gift card and offer to pay more than the item and the gift card would cost combined. For example, Kupchyk said someone selling an iPhone for $100 would be asked to also send a $200 gift card and promised $350 in total.

"So the seller thinks, 'wow, that's a great deal.'"

The buyer then initiates a PayPal transaction for the agreed amount, but leaves it as pending. They tell the seller they will release the money once they have confirmed the gift card, and ask for the code from the card. 

"Very next day, the PayPal pending transaction is gone," Kupchyk said. "Now, the person is out of their package and money on the gift card."