For nearly two years, Amazon packages have been showing up at Frank McMillian’s Baltimore home with one fairly important problem: none of them are for Frank McMillian.
They’re addressed to somebody named Skylar Baker. McMillian says he doesn’t know a Skylar Baker, has never known a Skylar Baker and, after living in the house for 26 years, is pretty confident Skylar Baker doesn’t live there.
At first, McMillian tried solving the mystery himself. He even went looking for another Spring Street address, wondering whether somebody had mixed up north and south. That expedition eventually took him all the way down toward the water, at which point McMillian decided he had done enough amateur detective work.
So he called WMAR-2 News reporter Mallory Sofastaii. And somewhere between the mysterious boxes, the possible scam and Amazon’s investigation, viewers discovered another reason to keep watching: Frank McMillian is an absolute character.
He Has Never Even Ordered From Amazon
Image Credit: WMAR-2 News / YouTube.
The easiest explanation would be that McMillian ordered something, forgot about it or somehow wound up with packages connected to his own account.
According to him, there is just one problem with that theory.
“I never ordered anything from Amazon. Never,” McMillian told WMAR.
Sofastaii asked him again just to make sure.
“Nothing, never,” he said. “Up in my age, I don’t need much. I got enough to last me till I leave this earth.”
Fair enough.
And these apparently aren’t a couple of random deliveries that showed up during a particularly confused week at the warehouse. McMillian says packages for Baker have been arriving for around two years.
WMAR reported that Amazon is now investigating what is happening.
Frank Is Not Opening Somebody Else’s Stuff
The packages have accumulated inside McMillian’s home because he refuses to open them.
He doesn’t throw them away, either.
“If my name is not on it, I’m not going to open it up,” McMillian told WMAR.
Then came the explanation that probably won over half the internet.
McMillian admitted there might have been a point in his life when curiosity would have gotten the better of him. Not anymore.
“But since I belong to God Almighty, he sees what I’m doing and I’m not doing anything,” he said. “He keeps me accountable.”
That went over pretty well with viewers.
“What a sweet, godly man,” one person wrote under WMAR’s YouTube report.
“That guy can minister!” another said.
“I love the honesty of this man,” added another viewer.
And another commenter skipped the package mystery entirely and arrived at perhaps the most important conclusion of the story: “this dude seems like he would be fun to hang out with.”
Could This Be A Brushing Scam?
There is one obvious possibility, but at this point it is only a possibility.
The Federal Trade Commission warned consumers in August about so-called “brushing” scams involving merchandise people never ordered.
One version works like this: a seller sends cheap merchandise to a real address so there is a record showing that an order was delivered. The seller can then use the transaction to help create fake reviews and make its products appear more popular or legitimate.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service similarly warns that brushing schemes can involve third-party sellers sending unsolicited merchandise after obtaining somebody’s address or other personal information.
There are newer variations to watch for, too. Both federal agencies warn about unexpected packages containing QR codes that supposedly tell recipients who sent the package or how to return it. Those codes can instead lead to phishing sites designed to steal passwords, credit card numbers or other information.
But there’s an important difference in McMillian’s case.
Typical federal warnings describe unsolicited packages addressed to the person receiving them.
McMillian’s packages aren’t addressed to McMillian. They’re addressed to Skylar Baker.
Amazon has not publicly said that brushing explains what has been happening at his house. The company told WMAR only that it is investigating.
So the guy in the YouTube comments who guessed that someone might be testing stolen credit cards could be right. The person guessing that sellers are creating fake reviews could also be right.
Or something else entirely could be going on.
Right now, they’re guesses.
He Is Not The Only One Getting Mystery Packages
There is at least one strangely similar case in Baltimore.
McMillian actually contacted WMAR after seeing an earlier report from the station about a woman in the city’s Hampden neighborhood who received more than 100 Amazon packages addressed to somebody else.
In that case, the packages kept arriving despite repeated attempts to contact customer service.
Amazon told the station it would work with that homeowner, but did not establish that her packages were part of a brushing scheme either.
That earlier story apparently convinced McMillian that Sofastaii might have better luck than his trip down Spring Street.
“I decided to call Mallory, Channel 2,” he said, “because I know she will get to the bottom of it.”
No pressure, Mallory.
What Should You Do If Mystery Packages Start Showing Up?
The details matter here.
The FTC says that if merchandise you never ordered arrives addressed to you, you generally are not required to pay for it or return it. The agency nevertheless recommends treating unexplained packages as a possible warning that personal information has been compromised.
It advises consumers to contact the marketplace involved, change passwords on shopping accounts, monitor their credit reports and avoid scanning QR codes included with mysterious deliveries.
The Postal Inspection Service gives similar advice and says unopened unsolicited packages sent through USPS can generally be marked “RETURN TO SENDER” when there is a return address.
McMillian’s situation is a little different because the packages carry someone else’s name, which makes his decision not to start tearing into Skylar Baker’s boxes seem considerably more sensible.
Besides, apparently somebody upstairs is keeping an eye on him.
And Frank McMillian is not about to get caught opening somebody else’s Amazon delivery.