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.

How the package scam works

12 months ago

Duration 3:18

Mickey Kupchyk started getting a lot of packages he didn't order. He found out they were part of a 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."

He said he makes sure to return all the packages, so the sellers at least get their products back.

Kupchyk has no idea how the scammer picked his address as the landing spot for the packages.

"The person scamming does not want to receive these packages, because then they could be traced to him," he said.

He said he has done some math and estimates the scam has garnered $30,000 to $50,000.

He said the people getting scammed into sending the packages range from a Kenyan student in Toronto to someone at the Abbotsford Correctional Centre.

Kupchyk has been trying to warn people about this scam on Facebook and said he has already helped some who were almost caught.

He said the post office has started to recognize some packages heading to his place.

"Me and the ladies at the post office are becoming good buddies, because I'm coming in there and they're always asking me 'OK, anymore packages for Gabby?' So it's getting to be a real joke."

Kupchyk said he lodged a complaint with the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre more than six months ago, but "never did hear anything back." 

CBC has reached out to the centre and to Meta, the company that owns Facebook.

In an email statement, the Regina Police Service said it reminds anyone buying or selling items on social media sites to never accept or pay more for an item than the posted price.

"Any overpayment should be considered a red flag and could very likely be a fraud," the statement said.

Kupchyk has tried to find Gabby on Facebook, but there are numerous profiles with that name. He said the person beguiling the sellers is coming up with elaborate details to alleviate suspicions, the latest being, "he is in the military and out of Canada right now but has his cousin Gabby in Regina."

"I don't see an end to it because the scam continues to work. It's been working for well over a year now and I don't see any reason why the person's going to stop doing it."