What is a Shipping Address Change Scam?

A Shipping Address Change Scam occurs when an attacker intercepts, alters, or fraudulently requests a change to a delivery address so that goods are shipped to a location controlled by the fraudster instead of the legitimate recipient. This is a form of e-commerce and logistics fraud that exploits the complexity of modern fulfillment systems, the distributed nature of delivery networks, and gaps in communication or verification procedures.

At a basic level, the scam has three common shapes:

• Account takeover: A fraudster gains access to a customer account, places an order, and updates the shipping address to a drop location.
• Social engineering: A fraudster convinces customer support or a carrier representative to change an address using forged credentials or urgent-sounding pretexts.
• Interception and redirection: A fraudster uses compromised carrier systems, coerced drivers, or online package reroute services to divert packages after shipment.

Why this scam works: modern fulfillment often involves multiple actors (merchant, warehouse, carrier), multiple systems (order management, WMS, carrier portals), and many touchpoints where an address can be modified. If strong verification is not applied, fraudsters exploit the weakest link.

Real-world examples include: an attacker hijacking a retail site account, changing the address to a locker or vacant property, then collecting the shipment; or impersonating a customer and persuading a carrier to hold or redirect a parcel under the pretense of a missed delivery.

Who is affected:

• Consumers: lost goods, replacement hassles, and potential identity exposure.
• Merchants: chargebacks, refunds, lost inventory, and reputation damage.
• Carriers and warehouses: operational disruption, increased claims, and higher handling costs.

Key signs of a Shipping Address Change Scam to watch for:

• Multiple rapid address changes on the same order.
• Requests to change to high-risk delivery points (parcel lockers, commercial to residential swaps, vacant properties, or known fraud hot spots).
• Mismatch between billing and shipping addresses with unusual IP location or device inconsistencies during checkout.
• Unusual urgency or pressure in communications claiming the change must be made immediately.

Basic prevention measures every consumer and business should adopt:

• Use strong, unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on shopping and carrier accounts to prevent account takeover.
• Monitor orders and shipment tracking closely; report unexpected changes immediately to the merchant and carrier.
• Require verification steps for address changes, such as confirmation emails or phone callbacks to the account holder.
• Merchants should implement fraud scoring and review rules that flag address changes on high-value orders or new accounts.

What to do if you suspect you are a victim:

1. Contact the merchant and carrier immediately to stop or intercept the shipment if possible.
2. Change the password and enable 2FA on any account involved; check account activity for unknown logins.
3. File a police report and save all communication records and tracking information for claims and chargebacks.
4. Monitor financial statements and consider a credit freeze if personal data was exposed.

Because the scam sits at the intersection of e-commerce, warehousing, and transportation, combating it requires coordination: merchants must harden account security and order verification; warehouses should implement policies to freeze orders with flagged changes; and carriers should strengthen identity checks on reroutes and holds. For consumers, simple habits like strong passwords, monitoring, and skepticism about urgent change requests can greatly reduce risk.

In short, a Shipping Address Change Scam takes advantage of human trust and procedural gaps. Recognizing the patterns — unexpected address edits, urgent messages, or a mismatch of account signals — and responding quickly with verification and communication are the best defenses. Businesses that bake verification into their workflows and consumers who protect their accounts can make this fraud harder to execute and far less profitable for criminals.