![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Tagg-opening-package.jpg\")
<\/a>Kelt explains that the packages slowed down around Christmas, but have picked back up in the last few weeks. The day Nexus <\/i>talked to Kelt for this story the CCSS had already received five packages by 2 pm (the last was a single cat tag). Kelt says the CCSS isn\u2019t particularly concerned about any safety aspect of the mystery packages, but he says that they aren\u2019t sure what to do with the items that aren\u2019t useful.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur bookkeeper was worried that we were gonna be financially on the hook for this stuff, like it was gonna come with a bill later, but Amazon doesn\u2019t work that way, as far as I know. You have to pay money for them to ship you things,\u201d says Kelt. \u201cThe downside is that we can\u2019t return any of it. To initiate a return with Amazon you have to go in the account that initiated the order and create a return; that\u2019s the only way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nexus<\/i> contacted Amazon but was unable to talk to anyone who was aware of the situation. Kelt had a similar issue when he first began receiving the packages.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked to a customer service rep,\u201d he says, \u201cand they were like, \u2018Yeah, hold onto it, we don\u2019t know who sent it to you.\u2019 They had me read off a tracking [number] from the box, and they were like, \u2018Yup, you received it,\u2019 and I was like, \u2018I\u2019m aware.\u2019 Apparently, once it\u2019s left, they don\u2019t really have a way of telling who it\u2019s from.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vancouver Island University Students\u2019 Union (VIUSU) in Nanaimo is one of the other student societies getting packages. They too contacted Amazon but have not had any more luck in determining the cause of the mystery packages.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used to call Amazon every time we received something, and there was an ongoing investigation,\u201d says VIUSU organiser of campus life Jessica Sandy. \u201cThey were pretty perplexed by the whole thing. As far as they could tell, it was individuals opening up a new account with nonsense email and names and paying for these things with gift cards. They were all from third-party Amazon sellers, so they couldn\u2019t really look as much into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The VIUSU has received yoga mats, headphones, a men\u2019s sex toy, and about 100 other items, and while they\u2019ve used a few things\u2014like a Bluetooth speaker\u2014they aren\u2019t thrilled about the deliveries. Sandy says they have concerns over the waste of the packaging, especially considering some packages only contain a single, small item.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only way they said that we could stop it was to block all the deliveries from Amazon to our office. They said that there\u2019s an investigation right now, that it\u2019s not just student unions, all kinds of organizations and businesses all over Canada have had this happen,\u201d says Sandy. \u201cI think once we realized it seems to be a really random selection of organizations that aren\u2019t connected, it\u2019s just been rather funny\u2014\u2018What are we going to get today?\u2019 Everyone opens the package and laughs. I don\u2019t feel like it\u2019s being done for any ill reason. I just can\u2019t see why.\u201d<\/p>\n
One theory that has some cybersecurity experts concerned about packages that show up to someone who hasn\u2019t ordered them (Amazon packages in particular are showing up to organizations and individuals across North America) is that they\u2019re a way to test stolen credit cards before making bigger purchases, or that the thief in question is buying small items to see patterns in regard to when the items get picked up. If they see that one is delivered then sits outside a house for a day, they could potentially order a large item then go grab it.<\/p>\n
But Kelt feels that the cause of the mystery packages is one of mismanagement, not malice.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy personal conspiracy theory is that it\u2019s a really bad marketing company,\u201d says Kelt. \u201cThey\u2019ve gotten too ahead of themselves, and the guy who\u2019s sending out the products hasn\u2019t gotten in touch with the person who\u2019s supposed to get in touch with the student society and be like, \u2018Hey, we\u2019d like to offer these products to students, here are some of the products.\u2019 That\u2019s what it feels like to me\u2014we just haven\u2019t gotten the thank-you note yet.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) is one of several student unions throughout the province that has been receiving mystery packages from Amazon. The packages, which started showing up to the CCSS in late October, contain seemingly random items, including, to name just a few examples, small technological gadgets, sewing needles, and sex toys. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,206],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-february-7-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15334"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15337,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15334\/revisions\/15337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}