A South Florida man who was unemployed and spent months looking for a new job came across a work-from-home opportunity that turned out to be a scam.
Alan Walker, of Miami Gardens, lost his job at the Port of Miami at the beginning of the pandemic. He spent months looking for work online and submitted multiple applications.
In December, he was relieved to get a job offer.
“I thought that God answered my prayers and it was time to get back to work and provide for my family,” Walker said.
Once his application was approved, Walker says a company called Shea Post LLC sent him an employment explainer video detailing his role as a "quality control inspector."
“It was basically shipping and reshipping merchandise from their distributors to clients that are located outside the country,” Walker said.
Walker immediately got to work. He sent and received about 18 packages. He says Shea Post always provided the shipping labels via text or email. Items in the boxes varied from hardware tools to vacuum cleaners.
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After about 30 days working for the company, Walker became suspicious because he did not get paid.
When he took the job, he provided all of his bank information to receive direct deposit payments. He says his manager and supervisor went from being very responsive to unreachable.
“The 19th of January I received a letter from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, NJ, and in the letter, it stated to me that I may be unaware of or not knowing of a reshipping scheme,” Walker said.
State of Delaware records show Shea Post LLC was formed in October 2020. The Better Business Bureau gives the company an “F” rating and has an alert stating the address is not the location of the company. According to the BBB, pictures and names on the website are invalid.
“Everything seemed so legit. Everything from point A to point B. If I had any problems they would troubleshoot me through the problems," Walker said.
Now Walker is still out of work and has spent the last few days calling banks and credit bureaus and changing passwords to try and avoid identity theft. He hopes anyone considering a job offer takes a closer look at the company to avoid the mess he’s in.
“In this state of time in this pandemic, you can’t have a heart or a soul if you are taking advantage of people for no apparent reason that’s just looking for work to feed their family," he said.
NBC 6 reached out to Shea Post LLC via their phone number in state records but the company did not answer.
The US Postal Inspection Service says they cannot comment on this scheme at this time.
To avoid being a victim of reshipping scheme the US Postal Service recommends:
- Don’t give out personal information to a person or company you don’t know.
- Be suspicious of any offer that doesn’t pay a regular salary or involves working for an overseas company.
- Check the company with the FTC, Better Business Bureau, or State Attorney General
