Douglas received an unexpected delivery from UPS last week: a check from Fidelity Investments made out to Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company for over $300,000, along with a bunch of 401(k) rollover paperwork that included the real account holder’s address, date of birth, SSN, and phone number.

He writes:

The other day, UPS tried to deliver a package to my apartment. This is
strange, since I never have stuff shipped there. So I had the package
rerouted to my office.

The package arrived today, and inside the package was:

– A check for $300,234.24, made out to Vanguard
– Paperwork for someone else’s 401(k) rollover

The person who is doing the rollover is some random person from another town who I have never heard of before. I looked over the paperwork, and cannot find my name and address listed anywhere. Why the package was sent to me is a complete and total mystery.

One Google search later, and I even found this person’s Facebook page, complete with employer information and a picture. Pretty much everything that’s needed to pull off some serious identity theft.

So the question is: now what? Do I send the check back to them? Should I forward the check to Vanguard? Should I forget the whole thing?

You say you’ve got the person’s contact info, so you should let him or her know what just happened, and let Fidelity know as well so the check can be voided.

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