One day a package dropped into the mailbox of Lisbeth Hovden (53) and her husband.
The sender was completely unknown, and when they opened it they found a box of pills from the dietary supplement company L-Serin Norge. In the package was also an invoice for NOK 79 for postage.
According to the company, the pills have been developed to: “…could give you better memory and concentration, and for overall cognitive health.”
FOR THE BRAIN: The pills should help with memory. Photo: Lisbeth Hovden/private
The package was addressed to Hovden’s husband, Gary Paul Corcoran. The problem was that he had never ordered pills from L-Serine Hjerne.
Lisbeth Hovden immediately contacted the company, first by phone.
– Frustrating
– You simply get cursed! This was not something we had ordered or were interested in. The process of customer service over the phone was also very frustrating, as you had to argue that you should not pay for this, says the 53-year-old.
After this conversation, she sent an email:
“My husband, Gary Paul Corcoran, was surprised to receive a package in the mail from you today? This should probably be a web order that was made on 19.11.22 (according to the telephone conversation with you today), but this does not imply correctness and this is not something he ordered, is interested in or needs!”
Hovden gets a quick response from customer service that: “… the order has been placed via the internet. If it is not you who ordered this, someone has ordered it in your name, and we then recommend reporting this as an identity theft”.
BILL: Along with the pills came the payment requirement of NOK 79. Photo: Lisbeth Hovden/private
The company also writes that the invoice is deleted.
L-Serin Norway cannot therefore point to any other agreement than that someone has ordered the pills via the website of L-Serin Hjerne, in Gary Paul Corcoran’s name. The company cannot answer who has done this.
In a new email, the company writes: “You can usually tell that an order is fake if the email does not match your own email address.”
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And sure enough, the email address used in the order is fake. Hovden googles the fake address, and then something startling happens.
– Not good for privacy
She comes straight to a list of many thousands of names of what appear to be customers of L-Serin Norway. The list shows name, address, telephone number and e-mail.
This causes the Norwegian Data Protection Authority to react:
– That the customer list is published in such an unprotected way is not good for privacy. Such information is to be regarded as personal information and must not be published in such a way, says subject director Atle Årnes.
Lisbeth Hovden notifies the company of the discovery, and four days later the link is removed.
FOUND CUSTOMER LIST: Lisbeth Hovden and Gary Paul Corcoran came straight to a customer list at the company. Photo: Private
Country manager Bjørn Andreassen in L-Serin Norway confirms this.
– An internal website for web orders could be reached via very specific google searches. We specify that this website has not contained personally sensitive information or payment information, he says, and adds that the Norwegian Data Protection Authority has been notified.
Not the only one
Corcoran is far from the only one who has involuntarily received a package from L-Serine Hjerne in the mail.
TV 2 helps you has been in contact with seven others who say they have experienced exactly the same thing.
Thomas Sørlie received the pills in March. Since he had not ordered the goods, he threw them away and refused to pay. After a while there was a reminder, and the case eventually went to debt collection.
Sørlie contested the claim, and the case was dropped. L-Serin Norge wrote to him that they have withdrawn the debt collection and deleted the claim, but added that the product was ordered on their website in Sørlie’s name.
– Personnel agreed, but I have never been in contact with them, he says.
Sørlie fears that others who experience this may become anxious, and perhaps pay for the product, because they become unsure whether they have ordered.
Lisbeth Hovden agrees:
If you receive an item you did not order:
When it comes to dietary supplements or other orders, it is forbidden to demand payment for goods or services that have been delivered, or to deliver goods/services with a demand for payment, without an agreement being concluded with the consumer. This follows from Section 11 fourth paragraph of the Marketing Act.
In the event of a delivery contrary to the above, i.e. that there is no agreement, the consumer is not obliged to pay for this. Furthermore, the consumer has no obligation to return or store products that have been delivered without an agreement. It is the trader who must be able to document that the agreement has been entered into.
Source: Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority
– I’m guessing many people just want to pay the invoice to get the matter out of the way, she says, and speculates whether it could be the company itself that is behind the orders.
– Basically, only the company itself can make a profit from this, says Hovden.
The Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority will investigate
Deputy director Mats Bjønnes of the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority tells TV 2 help you that they will investigate the matter further.
– If orders are placed where the individual consumer has not ordered, the trader must clean up.
– If the consumer has not ordered, the consumer does not have to pay for postage either, and the consumer also does not have to send back any goods received.
Deputy Director Mats Bjønnes in the Consumer Protection Authority. Photo: Dag Jenssen/Consumer Inspection
– Very regrettable
– It is very regrettable that individuals have been exposed to false orders, based on misuse of our brand, says Bjørn Andreassen in L-Serin Norway.
He denies that the company is behind the fake orders.
– We have clear indications that those who received goods without ordering have fallen victim to fake orders created by external actors. We will consider legal action against those behind this as soon as we have completed our investigations.
Andreassen adds that the orders came from one and the same IP address, and says measures have been taken to prevent more fake orders.
– What should customers do who have involuntarily received a package from you in the post?
– Those who have regrettably been exposed to fake orders can contact L-Serin Norway’s customer service. False orders will then be deleted and any payments will be refunded as soon as possible, says Andreassen.
See also: Rannveig agreed to a free trial – then she received a debt collection claim:
