Is a job offer asking me to receive and forward parcels from home legitimate?
No. Parcel forwarding jobs are one of the most common forms of reshipping fraud, used to launder goods bought with stolen payment cards.
Last reviewed: 1 August 2026
Explanation
Work-at-home parcel forwarding or reshipping jobs advertise simple tasks — receive parcels, repackage them, and ship them abroad. The pay seems reasonable and the work minimal. In reality, the parcels contain goods bought online using stolen credit card details. You become the final link in the fraud chain, and when the cardholders dispute the purchases, the goods are traced back to your address. You may be investigated for handling stolen goods or participating in fraud, even if you genuinely did not know. Legitimate logistics companies do not recruit individuals to use their home addresses as reshipping hubs.
The operation is structured so that you absorb all the traceable risk. The stolen cards, the online orders, and the overseas recipients are all hidden behind layers; your name and address are the only real-world details in the chain, appearing on courier records, customs declarations, and the retailers' delivery logs. When the card fraud is discovered — usually within weeks — every parcel traces to your door. Wages are typically promised monthly, which is not generosity but arithmetic: the operation expects to burn each 'employee' before the first payday, and many victims are never paid at all.
A second layer of the same scam targets your identity. Onboarding often includes sending photographs of your passport or driving licence and your bank details for 'payroll', giving the operators everything needed for identity fraud after the reshipping ends. If you are currently holding parcels, do not forward them and do not return them to any address the 'employer' supplies; contact the police and the delivering carriers, keep all correspondence, and notify your bank that your identity documents may be circulating. Ending involvement early and reporting voluntarily is the strongest evidence of your good faith.
Common red flags
- Job involves receiving parcels at home and forwarding them abroad
- Employer pays you per parcel forwarded rather than through a standard employment contract
- Job found through an unsolicited email or messaging app
- Employer provides shipping labels and prepaid postage
What to do now
- Do not accept any parcels on behalf of an unknown employer
- If parcels have arrived, do not forward them and contact police
- Report the job offer to your national labour authority
- Inform your postal carrier if packages are arriving at your address for this purpose
Frequently asked questions
Am I criminally liable if I forwarded parcels without knowing the goods were stolen?
Liability depends on jurisdiction and evidence of knowledge, but police investigations can still involve you. Stop immediately and cooperate with authorities if investigated.
Why does the 'employer' pay monthly instead of per parcel upfront?
Because the operation plans to discard workers before the first payday. Monthly pay maximises the parcels moved through your address before the stolen-card disputes surface — many reshipping victims are never paid at all.
I sent them my ID and bank details when I was 'hired' — what should I do?
Treat your identity as compromised: alert your bank, monitor your credit file, and consider a fraud alert. Report the operation to police with all correspondence — the ID harvesting is often the second half of the same fraud.