Hartland Identity Fraud Stems from Online Job Scam

A new job at an online company for a laid-off 50-year-old Hartland man turned out to be an identity theft scam, according to a police report. 

Police said a 73-year-old Hartland woman reported that her Sears Master Card had an unauthorized charge at a popular retail website. The woman told police that her address was used as the billing address, but the shipping address was a home on Austin Court in Hartland. 

At the other home, the man told police he recently began working for an online company as a project coordinator. His job was to receive shipments from FedEx, photograph the contents, then repackage the shipments and ship them through the U.S. Postal Service in order to save the company on U.S. Customs fees, the report said.

The man told police that he had only received and shipped two packages for the company, and that both were sent to Moscow, Russia.

According to the report, the man became suspicious when he did not get paid through PayPal as he was supposed to, and filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney General's Office. 

For questions on the police blotter, email nicole.krawcke@patch.com.