Many people know what it feels like to excitedly pick up a package on their doorstep, only to read someone else’s name on the top.
If that happens to you during the busy holiday season, you might be wondering if it is a crime to keep the misdelivered package. Here’s what to know.
Is it a crime to keep a package meant for someone else?
Keeping a delivered package meant for someone else may result in theft charges, although other specifics matter.
When a package was addressed to someone else and delivered to you by the U.S. Postal Service, federal law applies and it would be considered mail theft, according to the service. It is punishable by up to $250,000 in fines or up to five years in prison, according to legalclarity.org.
In Kentucky, packages from Amazon, FedEx and UPS are similarly protected under theft state laws after Senate Bill 23 was passed in 2022. Package theft could result in a Class D felony.
What to do with a package addressed to someone else
First, don’t open the package, which could make it harder to return.
Second, check the intended address. You might see it was supposed to go to a neighbor and you could simply choose to deliver it yourself.
If you don’t want to do that, you need to make a reasonable effort to get it in the right hands. If it was delivered in the mail, writing “return to sender” on it and setting it with outgoing mail is the simplest way.
If it was delivered by a private service, such as FedEx or Amazon’s network of carriers, it can be a little tougher. Contact either the carrier or the service the item was ordered through.
What happens if you can’t return the package?
If you make a reasonable effort to return the package, you might be able to keep it.
The U.S. Postal Service will collect packages misdelivered by its carriers and return or forward them. Private freight services likely will do the same, but online platforms such as Amazon using delivery contractors will not always try to collect the misdelivered item, especially if it is inexpensive. They sometimes say you can keep the item and they will ship a new one to the intended recipient.
Similarly, misdelivered meals and perishable food typically will not be picked up because of the risk of contamination while it was out of the courier’s possession.
Can you keep a package addressed to you that you did not order?
Yes, but you should be careful.
If you receive a package that is addressed for you, but you didn’t order it, you have the right to keep it without paying for it. The Federal Trade Commission says when a company sends you something you didn’t order that is addressed to you, they can’t later demand you return the item or pay for it.
Why should you report a misdelivered or unordered package?
First, contacting the private shipping service, seller or the post office helps you comply with laws requiring reasonable efforts to return a misdelivered package.
It’s also important because it helps the sales platform be aware of possible brushing scams that try to fraudulently boost a seller’s profile and sometimes capture personal information about customers.
What is ‘brushing’?
Brushing is where someone ships an item to a person that did not actually order it as part of a scam to improve the seller’s rating in a platform such as Amazon.
The seller or a collaborator sets up fictitious accounts that, as far as it looks to the selling platform, are different people typically buying expensive items, such as jewelry or computers.
In the scan, the seller actually ships low-value items, such as hair ties, to the different addresses, but to the selling platform, it looks like a series of sales of the high-end items to different individuals. The operators of the fictitious accounts then leave glowing reviews as verified buyers, helping drive up the seller’s rating and success in the platform’s algorithm.
In some cases, the supposed buyer’s profile uses the name of a real person at the address where the item would be delivered.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also warned about a variation on brushing scams where the unsolicited packages contain a QR code. After scanning the code, the recipients might be prompted to provide personal or financial information or to download malicious software.
These kinds of scams can be reported to the FBI.
Amazon also has a way to report them.
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Arizona Republic staff writer Laura Daniella Sepulveda contributed to this report. Hannah Hudnall contributed. Nate Trela covers trending news in Colorado and Utah for the USA TODAY Network. Reach Marina Johnson at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Can I keep a package accidentally delivered to me? See Kentucky laws
