Maybe he couldn't change his Amazon or other online company shipping address. Remember, you have to re-enter your credit card details when shipping to an address other than the one connected to your billing address. It's to prevent fraud, as I learned when I worked at Amazon in the 1990s.
What I am trying to say is perhaps old BM didn't have the credit card in hand. He was trying to order something, couldn't change the shipping address without a valid credit card, and he decided on an "end run". JMO. But this is fishy as hell.