Allowing Deliveries to Your Home for Purchases Made by Credit Card Fraud

[daisynguyen]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: COLORADO

Hello, I have business at home which is I buy a lot of stuff and goods (handbags, perfumes, clothes...) online and ship them to my home country (not USA) to sell them.
About 6 months ago, one of my friend living in my hometown said he wants to purchase something by his credit card and gift cards and ship them to my home so I can ship them to our country for him. He will pay me for shipping them. Because he is my friend, I had no doubt on him. I received many packages from Macys, Nordstrom, Nike, Amazon and many other online stores, and sent all of them to my home country.
One day, I tried to place an order on Nordstrom but it was cancelled. I called customer service to ask them why. They said to me that my address is in blacklist because someone used unauthorized credit card to purchase stuff and ship to my house. I asked them what are stuff and they answered me with all the things my friends ordered. They said that I am unable to purchase online from Nordstrom The same situation happens with Macys.
I asked my friend are the credit card he used are hacked but he refused.

Now I stop receiving the packages he ordered but I am so scared that I will be in charged of stealing credit card to buy stuff online. Even I didn't use these credit cards but I am the person living here received all the stuffs purchased from these credit card.

Anyone in this situation? Is that possible that one day I will be in charged of that? What would I should do now to demonstrate that I am not commit a crime which is stealing credit card?

Thanks for all your recommendation.

[free9man]

I'm guessing by your grammar here that English is not your first language. This could cause you to inadvertently say something that the police can use against you, as well as making it easier for them to play games with you.

You may get a visit from the police or them asking you to come see them. If this happens, do not say anything without a lawyer present.

[jk]

Anything is possible.

You were complicit in the fraud even if kt was not knowingly. Of course the banks view may be that you were fully aware of the fraud. If they do you may get the opportunity to prove your claim in court during your criminal trial.


Unless you are willing to repay the banks for the fraud there isn't much you can do to prevent an investigations and possible criminals charges.

[daisynguyen]

I'm guessing by your grammar here that English is not your first language. This could cause you to inadvertently say something that the police can use against you, as well as making it easier for them to play games with you.

You may get a visit from the police or them asking you to come see them. If this happens, do not say anything without a lawyer present.

You are right. English is not my first language. I am so stupid when believing in my friend. He said he used some tricks to have gift cards to buy stuff.
Thanks for your advise. If I have to meet police, I will not say anything and hire a lawyer.

[Who'sThatGuy]

The District Attorneys Office (DA) is most likely weighing charges against you as we look at this thread.

Your friend got you into this mess, and he is the only one that can get you out of it. Hire an attorney and tell him exactly what happened and give him all the contact information you have for your friend. Your attorney will give that information to the DA and most likely, assuming that you had NOTHING AT ALL to do with this fraud, the DA will drop all charges against you and file them against your friend. If you had knowledge about the stolen credit cards, you should also let your lawyer know that so he can approach the DA with a plea bargain for you. If you know something and don't disclose it, your friend will drag you back into the courtroom because he will push some of the weight onto you.

[llworking]

The District Attorneys Office (DA) is most likely weighing charges against you as we look at this thread.

Your friend got you into this mess, and he is the only one that can get you out of it. Hire an attorney and tell him exactly what happened and give him all the contact information you have for your friend. Your attorney will give that information to the DA and most likely, assuming that you had NOTHING AT ALL to do with this fraud, the DA will drop all charges against you and file them against your friend. If you had knowledge about the stolen credit cards, you should also let your lawyer know that so he can approach the DA with a plea bargain for you. If you know something and don't disclose it, your friend will drag you back into the courtroom because he will push some of the weight onto you.

I do not believe that the friend is located in the US.

[Mr. Knowitall]

About 6 months ago, one of my friend living in my hometown said he wants to purchase something by his credit card and gift cards and ship them to my home so I can ship them to our country for him. He will pay me for shipping them. Because he is my friend, I had no doubt on him. I received many packages from Macys, Nordstrom, Nike, Amazon and many other online stores, and sent all of them to my home country.

If these packages were arriving at your home in your friend's name, you were calculating shipment and forwarding the unopened packages to your friend, then the stores will have records that show what orders came in your friend's name as opposed to yours, and you should have records of each time you asked your friend to pay the shipping costs and the amounts of money that you received from your friend to cover those costs.

If you were receiving the items under your own name, then you should have a clear record from your friend of the items that your friend was ordering from abroad, as otherwise you would not have been able to distinguish his orders from your own, or be sure that an order was not received in error. And again, you should have clear records of your shipments to your friend for every single improperly purchased item, along with documentation that he paid you for the shipping costs and nothing else.

Even good records won't prove that you weren't involved in a conspiracy, but if you can actually demonstrate that these purchases were entirely separate from the legitimate purchases you made as part of your own business, you may be able to convince a prosecutor that you were not involved.

If the police contact you, you should work through a criminal defense lawyer.