Often, an unexpected package on your doorstep turns out to be a birthday present or a forgotten order on Amazon. But a former WTOP team member in D.C. got a strange shipment with no explanation.
Longtime WTOP Editor Judy Taub received a random package last weekend from a person she didn’t know and an address unfamiliar to her.
“I opened it up and it was this cheap little refrigerator magnet that said ‘Panama’ on it,” said Taub.
The name on the package only identified the sender as “Jon” with a return address of 2352 Bent Creek Road in Auburn, Alabama — home to Bent Creek Grocery, a convenience store not far from Auburn University.
After digging around, Taub learned that her package wasn’t the only one, and shipments from the same address have been received all over the country.
One reporter with Ohio television station WTOL 11 even received a posture corrector.
The station reports that the convenience store located at that address in Alabama has no idea who is sending the packages either, and has received numerous phone calls about inappropriate items that were received like a thong sent to a 14-year-old in California.
Police in Auburn and the Better Business Bureau have started investigating these mystery parcels.
The U.S. Postal Service tracking number also did not reveal more details, showing it had been dropped off at a Washington D.C. carrier facility.
“I really just thought, I wonder if other people are getting this and I’m wondering what the heck is going on,” said Taub.
The Better Business Bureau reveals that random packages from Amazon could be a part of a scam called brushing in which scammers obtain a person’s account information to post fake positive product reviews, although there was nothing in the package that Taub received to indicate it was ordered on Amazon.
WTOP wants to know if you have received a package from the same address and the same person. Call the Talkback line at 202-895-5000 or send WTOP a message with your information.
