Is a job that sends me equipment in advance and then asks me to forward it to another address a scam?

Reshipping mule scams recruit workers, often through fake remote work listings, who receive packages and then forward them to another address, usually overseas. The goods in the packages are typically purchased with stolen credit cards or are proceeds of other fraud. The reshipping worker may believe they are part of a legitimate logistics operation, but they are knowingly or unknowingly handling stolen property — which can result in police contact, account freezes, and in some cases prosecution. The 'employer' stops communicating once the goods have been reshipped and no wages are paid. If a job offer involves receiving and forwarding parcels you did not purchase, it is a reshipping scam.

These operations recruit deliberately from people who are job-hunting, newly arrived in a country, or working from home for the first time — groups less likely to recognise the pattern and more likely to accept unusual arrangements. The paperwork can look thorough, with contracts, onboarding forms, and a company website, because the operation needs you to feel employed for the few weeks it uses your address. When the scheme is detected, it is the reshipper whose name and address appear on every parcel and whose door the investigation reaches first. Keeping all messages, labels, and tracking numbers, and contacting police before disposing of anything, puts you in the strongest position as a witness rather than a suspect.