Counterfeit vans: A little-known online grocery scam

Data breach.....

The only way one of these "fake vans" could turn up at a particular house when they were expecting a delivery would be if somewhere in their organisation there is a leak of data. So this whole announcement sounds to me like Ocado are not certain about the security of their site or data.

It'd be a good scam actually, if someone in their warehouse got hold of a delivery schedule for a van and passed it to a "mate", who went round with the "fake van" and robbed the various houses on the route before the real van came around.

Fair do's...

..Mr.Lettice, they do state they won't use your number for marketing purposes. Personally I look forward to the day when I can actually text items to my basket as I run out of them...no more sticky notes, crappy bits of paper and being b*llocked by the wife for forgetting stuff...

And I've enjoyed the fact that I've just had to register my details including workplace, number of employees etc with y'all to post this. Will I receive any direct marketing via email? Pot, kettle, etc, etc...

So now that I have lept to your defence Ocado, please implement the text to basket(tm) idea I emailed you about ages ago and you didn't respond to...

Goods

What about getting their house in order to stop selling counterfeit goods BEFORE sorting out their vans.

Is that pile of ashes my coat....

Is the Real Hustle a Real Hustle?

You know, I don't think the real hustle is real. I think they plan vignets with bit part actors and extras, do the filming on the streets then just says it's real. The people being hustled are the viewers. I recall one, where a camera shot was high up in a corner of a cafe they just walked into. So how did they get the camera there, erm, and why would the cafe owner cooperate with the planting of the camera, yet not be in on it? And does nobody every press charges? Really? Never ever? Not even when they're pissed off at being delayed/hustled/made to look foolish?

I think all sorts of complicated and implausible scams are imprinted into the minds of brits, that cause them to see scams where there are none. It also provides fodder for marketing guys:

Marketing Droid #1: "how do we get Ocada into the papers today?"

Marketing Droid #2: "I know lets do what The Real Hustle does and warn them of a fake scam and launch a value added service of listing the number plate".

Marketing Droid #1: "Now for slogans, we could play on peoples fears to warn them off competing services,"

Marketing Droid #2: "How about 'Ocada the service that DOESN'T recruit bloodthirsty murdering psychopaths"

Marketing Droid #1: "Yeh that totally nails it!"

Fake/Stolen

So a thief will go to all the trouble of painting a van to look like an Ocado van just on the off chance of being able to nick something from a house. And if they bother to just simply steal a van, Ocado should know this and take appropriate actions at the time. This kind of thing just raises the FUD factor and combined with the general tone of TWaT (love the acronym) just makes it feel like this country is just about to be bumped off by unscrupulous dark forces.

You dont know what they want to do???

How about they back the truck up to your door, beat you up and steal everyhing you have into the van?? its going to look a lot less dodgy than a man in a suit (salesman fake) running from your house loading tvs into his BMW.

makes people more paranoid - we all suffer

So this is a threat that Ocado have "identified" (shouldn't that be "dreamed up"), presumably without ever having seen one single incident. I suppose they would say that "well, it's possible".

It seems to be to be a manipulative way to gain a USP - Unique Selling Proposition. Until of course all the other home delivery outfits latch on, so it'll only be a few weeks or months before they're all at it.

What this means is that, with absolutely no evidence that this has ever happened, their customers have now been made afraid of another way that baddies could mug/rob/con them. They've increased the overall level of fear for a small and temporary increase in their marketing reach - I hope they're proud of themselves.

OCADA van attack murderers

"You dont know what they want to do???"

So how common exactly are Ocado vans pulling up to houses with murdering thieves in them that break down the doors, murder you and steal the contents of your house.

I'd be worried too if I was Ocado and I knew that thieves and murderers were using vans painted in Ocado colours to attack people in their homes.

I'm horrified to hear of these attacks by supposed OCADO drivers, in OCADO vans, raiding people homes?

So I need to pay special attention whenever I see an OCADO van because it may be one of these fake OCADO labelled vans with MURDERERS inside, and BURGLARS and HOME RAIDERS.

It may not be an OCADO van at all, perhaps it's a TERRORIST VAN disguised as an OCADO van.

So perhaps OCADO = fakeVan full of TERRORISTS, MURDERERS and people who will break into your home. When they park outside you can't see the number plate, so best be sure and not order from OCADO, because they have a problem with FAKE DRIVERS who will kick your door down, tie you up, perhaps even rape you, up the bottom, and maybe kill you too, then eat your babies, steal your stuff and escape.

Don't take the risk, remember it's the OCADO vans that have the problem, and OCADO think it's so bad that they spend money on this service.

So if you have your suspicious about an OCADO van, be sure to tell your local paper about he suspicious OCADO van in your area to warn other people. Don't forget to report OCADO vans to the police whenever you see them acting suspiciously.

It's simpler than that...

The thief gets access to the house, and will see enough to determine if it is worth breaking in, and some idea of the vunerabilities of the building.

I think it used to be referred to as "casing the joint".

The solution is to make them hand over the delivery at the doorstep.

As a scam this fails on so many levels...

1. When I receive a home delivery I'm asked to verify the contents of the crates and sign off that I have received my shopping. Unless the scammers are receiving details about my order they are not going to get that right.

2. I would be alerted to the scam the moment the real delivery arrives.

On the plus side I would have 2 loads of shopping for the price of 1!!! Sounds like a win for the consumer to me.

WAITROSE OCADO Vans & CASING THE JOINT

"The thief gets access to the house, and will see enough to determine if it is worth breaking in, and some idea of the vunerabilities of the building."

I see, so if I see an OCADO van it may be THIEVES CASING THE JOINT to determine if there's anything worth STEALING.

They know that someone is in the house, because they have the delivery address and time. Presumably they don't have the groceries, so you'd be mighty suspicious if the OCADO van turned up without your WAITROSE groceries you'd ordered, so presumably the fake OCADO man then TIES YOU UP and STEALS your stuff immediately.

But you've seen him, you're a witness, so I guess this fake OCADO driver has to KILL you to cover his tracks. A GUNSHOT would draw attention, so presumably he (the fake OCADO driver without your WAITROSE groceries) BLUDGEONS you with a CLUB. Perhaps finishing you off with a long sharp STABBING KNIFE.

If I was WAITROSE I would be very afraid of working with OCADO since they have this problem with fake drivers. In fact I'd be very afraid to associate my brand name with a company that has this problem so bad that it has to alert people to get them to check the license plate or it's drivers. In fact I would distance myself from their PR agency too (looks like Trumpet Ltd ?? from a google search)

(What was that sound? Was it a pr stunt BACKFIRE or a the sound of GUNFIRE from a fake OCADO van without my WAITROSE groceries. Perhaps it was a marketing droid doing the honorable thing?).

Keywords: OCADO STEALING WAITROSE BURGLARS MURDERERS KILLING BLUDGEON VICTIMS fake story. MAIME RUN FOR YOUR LIVES IT'S AN OCADO VAN WITH WAITROSE GROCERIES

Film Set Alert

If the customer is only going to be LOOKING at the delivery van and its number plate, then a scammer wouldn't need an actual working van. A wooden mock-up, or maybe an inflatable would suffice, just like the British did with fake tanks to fool the Luftwaffe before D-Day.

And if the mock-up is parked down the street it need not be even the normal size - an 80% model would probably fool most people.

what's the difference

so you understand meter reading scams but can't see how this is different?

meter reading scam...

person pretends to be a meter reader to gain access to the property, then mugs little old lady in the privacy of her own home, with no-one around to see and leaves whistling and smiling, nobody bats and eyelid because it looks legit.

how's is this different from:

person pretends to be a food delivery man to gain access to the property, then mugs little old lady in the privacy of her own home, with no-one around to see and leaves whistling and smiling, nobody bats and eyelid because it looks legit.

it's just a safeguard, perhaps not a well thought out one, but neither are the ID cards that meter inspectors read. they are just limited measures to put worriers minds at rest.

[ocado murder] elreg is #1

Cool, if you search for [ocado murder] on Google, elReg now comes #1.

It comes #3 for [ocado van] we need to do much better there. Perhaps more discussion of Ocado van murders would do it?

Somewhere in a PR agency ... a focus group falls silent.

Do Ocado drivers carry the food into the kitchen?

Sainsburys and Tescos (the only two I've tried) bring it to the doorstep - the rest of the way is my problem. A fake Tesco driver would get a view of my hall, which he could get by pretending to be a fake Jehova's Witness, AND has to leave about 40 quids worth of food for the privelege.

Bring it on!

Believe it or not, the basic idea is sound

Actually the basic idea is sound, that is to remind your more brain-dead customers that they have a delivery coming. Whoever decided to put a security spin on it should be shot, however.