
The 'brushing' scam that's behind mystery parcels - fortran77
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54055669
======
ardy42
> According to Citizens' Advice, if an item is addressed to you, there has
> been no previous contact with the company, and it arrives out of the blue,
> then you can keep it.

You might not want to, through. I an was almost-victim of another scam where
the scammers opened an account at Best Buy using my information with (someone
else's) stolen credit card, and ordered a laptop and shipped it to my address.
I returned it to the store immediately and notified Best Buy of the scam, but
the next work day a FedEx guy came with a prepaid label (from the scammers) to
pick it up. The idea apparently was to confuse me about the return, so I'd
accidentally ship the laptop to the scammers rather than Best Buy.

It would've worked too, but I'd already returned the package in person and
called the police (because I'd assumed the scammer's plan was to steal it from
my doorstep). I didn't realize something was wrong with the pickup until the
Fedex guy was almost ready to drive away, but I waved him down to get a look
at the label.

The name/address on the was that of a recent immigrant living in New York
City. My understanding is that he's probably just a schmuck who got taken in
by some fake work from home scam to transship the stolen items. He may even
think he's working for Best Buy to process returns.

In any case, I think if I'd kept the laptop I'd have been guilty of receiving
stolen property, at least. At worst, I could have been assumed to be a
bumbling scammer and charged with credit card fraud (though, being a white
professional worker, that probably wouldn't happen since I would probably be
given the benefit of the doubt, but other people wouldn't be so lucky).

~~~
sandworm101
>> there has been no previous contact with the company

Every law student is given that speech. There used to be a specific scam
targeting new lawyers. When a new law office was setup it would be sent books
and lawyer-related equipment, along with a bill for payment. The scammers
hoped the bill would just be paid without further inquiry. So law students are
now warned and told that they can keep such "gifts".

But that isn't how the real world works. Who here doesn't have any previous
contact with amazon? What if the package contains something very illegal
(drugs etc) and the police are watching it? That will be a fun afternoon. Or
what if your new address, previously perhaps a vacant house, is being used by
someone buying illegal stuff? Yesterday he would pick it up from the door of
an empty house. Today the package is inside the house. Unrequested deliveries
should not be treated lightly.

~~~
ericmay
Not sure why previous contact with a company matters?

Here's what the U.S. Federal Trade Commission says about receiving packages
you didn't order [1]:

"What do you do when you receive merchandise that you didn’t order? According
to the Federal Trade Commission, you don’t have to pay for it. Federal laws
prohibit mailing unordered merchandise to consumers and then demanding
payment."

There is obvious nuance here [2]. Maybe receiving "stolen property" for
example. But if the item is addressed to you, and you didn't order it, I think
you're in the clear, and certainly nobody can demand payment and enforce it.

-edit-

This reminds me of the scams in Europe where someone will grab your hand and
put a bracelet on or put a flower in your hair or something and demand
payment. I've been in this scenario. All you have to do is walk away or just
throw the merchandise on the ground. They'll change their tune quickly.

[1] [https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-
merchan...](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchandise)

[2] I'm not a lawyer.

~~~
LiquidSky
In the Pre-Covid Age that scam was pretty common in NYC, too. Usually it's
someone dressed as a Buddhist monk in a tourist area like Times Square who
will walk up to you and press a charm into your hand, then ask for payment.
This happened to me when I first moved here years ago. I wasn't sure what was
happening so I thanked him and kept walking, thinking it was some kind of
religious proselytizing thing. He came after me and angrily demanded money, so
I handed the charm back and left.

Here's an article from a few years ago about these fake monks being a nuisance
on the High Line park: [https://gothamist.com/news/the-high-line-is-
struggling-with-...](https://gothamist.com/news/the-high-line-is-struggling-
with-aggressive-fake-monks)

~~~
saalweachter
My policy is to never take anything from any person on the street. Flyers,
comic club tickets, CDs, cans of soda, I don't want the interaction.

------
Brajeshwar
There is a Book-Parcel scam in India, and I was one of the victims.

When you register a new company, your details are out there in the open,
targeted by scammers, spammers, and other marketing specialists. I'm usually
paranoid and am good at detecting BS, but this slipped through.

On a fateful day in 2015, while I was driving, the security guard at our
building called me to say there is a book order, and the mailman was asking
for cash payments. Highly unlikely because I always pre-pay and don't do the
Cash-on-Delivery, which is 90%+ of the eCommerce in India.

I had earlier helped the guard's family, especially his daughter (similar to
my daughter's age), with some school fees and gifts. So, he is always looking
for ways to "repay" me. He offered to pay off the ₹2,500+ for the "official
book" order.

In the melee of me driving and the "official book," I told him to go ahead. I
paid him the amount he paid the mailman but never told him about the scam lest
he feels terrible.

I still have that book-order well packed to remind me of the time when I was
scared. I will have it as part of my collectibles (family museum).

~~~
thinkloop
What was the scam? That maybe you forgot you ordered it? Or that since it's a
company someone will more likely take possession and pay thinking it's for
someone else?

~~~
myself248
That someone, like the doorman, will just pay it and assume someone ordered it
and they'll collect from the someone.

Scammers used to do a similar thing here with xerox/laser toner cartridges.

They'd call ahead and find out what kind of machine you have, and then ship a
pallet of the right cartridges for it. Cheap refills, terrible quality, they'd
be worth pennies on the dollar compared to the real ones. But, they fit and
they print, so the alarm bells aren't ringing yet. Someone else must've
ordered these, but they're "the right ones".

Some time later, an invoice shows up. For the amount you'd expect to pay for a
pallet of genuine cartridges, which is vastly more than this junk was worth,
but does anyone notice? Sometimes, it just gets paid; someone forgot they
ordered this, yeah? Whatever, just pay it. Sometimes, this smells fishy enough
that it doesn't get paid, and then the scammers call up (sounding like a
legitimate office supply firm) concerned about the overdue invoice, and "if
you've already opened them then it's not returnable, so yeah, you have to just
pay it at this point."

All lies -- it was sent unsolicited, you're under no obligation to pay for it.
But a lot of people will, especially if the cold-call weeks ago where they
asked about the machine might be vague enough in the memory that, maybe you
did agree to buy some?

So the scammers take $600 in product and get $4800 for it. Enough return to
make it worthwhile even if quite a few don't fall for it!

------
crote
There's another scam involving mystery parcels:

The scammer will order a product, to be delivered to your address. Crucially,
they use delayed payment.

After delivery, the scammer will come to your door to get the package,
claiming a shipping or ordering mistake. As you didn't order it yourself,
you'll probably give them the package.

A while later, the store will send you the bill, and they'll harass you until
you pay them.

~~~
rdudek
This must not be a US thing. I don't know of any business that ships a product
prior to receiving payment.

~~~
bluedino
Book/CD clubs used to work that way. They shipped you the 'book of the month'
and then you'd either return it or pay for it.

~~~
OriginalPenguin
Not exactly. They would always send a postcard or something similar beforehand
allowing you to opt-out.

------
rwmj
Why does the actual product need to be delivered to the fake reviewers? Surely
“Kleinman candles” knows which addresses are fake and can simply not send the
candles out to them.

Edit: I'm going to guess because these shady drop-ship companies use FBA and
similar?

~~~
ramses0
I want $1M free dollars. I send 1000 packets of seeds with tracking numbers to
1000 random addresses, and then write 1000 fake 5-star "verified purchase"
reviews. Total outlay? 1000 x $0.55 postage = $550.00.

I then take my 1000's of five-star review page, and start selling diamond
earrings for $199.95. I collect $200k in cash from 1000 sellers who get duped,
and never ship anything to anybody ever again.

Repeat x5 and you have $1M free dollars.

~~~
passwordreset
Why would you send seeds instead of sending 1000 empty envelopes?

~~~
OriginalPenguin
Maybe because you outsource fulfillment to a legitimate company, and they will
find it strange to send empty envelopes?

So instead you give them seeds to ship which probably cost less than the
envelope itself.

------
h2odragon
I have yet to see anyone show any evidence that the "mystery seeds" are
"brushing"; and it seems like it would necessarily exist, wouldn't it? If
there's someone using the fact of the parcels having been delivered as
documentation of something, why has no one found an example yet?

~~~
sokoloff
I've gotten literally empty ePackets before (long before the recent seeds
thing). I assumed they were some kind of Aliexpress scam, but it never hit me
personally in any way I could tell other than a few seconds of opening and
tossing empty bubble envelopes.

~~~
baybal2
I recommend you to open an AliExpress, and Amazon accounts with the letter a
letter exact (including register) address to one from ePacket.

They will detect the duplicate address, and likely give a surprise to the
seller.

------
Mountain_Skies
Nina Kollars had a nice related talk during Defcon on a similar scam buying
what she thought was gray market Nespresso pods whose "seller" bought for her
using a stolen credit card. They also gave her a free Nespresso machine,
presumably to give her motive to keep quiet.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IT2oAzTcvU&ab_channel=DEFCO...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IT2oAzTcvU&ab_channel=DEFCONConference)

------
frabbit
Have had similar in Canada: ordered footwear from a seemingly legit website.
Some time later cheap jewellery arrived in the post with the same tracking
number and Paypal was duly debited for the cost of the footwear. I reported to
PayPal (who promptly refunded) and suggested they shut down or suspend the
account, and also the the Canadian Fraud Center (apparently < 5% of people
take the time to do this)

[https://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-
bc.nsf/eng/0...](https://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-
bc.nsf/eng/04339.html)

------
dmortin
"I then set up a load of fake accounts, and I find random names and addresses
either from publicly available information or from a leaked database that's
doing the rounds from a previous data breach. I order Kleinman Candles from my
fake accounts"

Do all these accounts have the same credit card number? I'd think Amazon
checks card numbers, so lots of accounts can't use the same card. Or does
brushing need getting lots of different card numbers too? I wouldn't think
they are so easy to come by in bulk.

~~~
tw04
The card number problem should be somewhat easy I would think. You either use
gift cards or one of the cards out there that lets you create virtual card
numbers for online purchases. I would think at some point if you were spinning
up hundreds of virtual cards you'd get flagged, but gift cards should be
awfully easy other than the time/effort to actually acquire them.

------
fmakunbound
Brushing scam recipient here. The coolest thing I've gotten so far is a fancy
coffee mug. The lamest thing has been a baggie for jewelry (no jewelry
included).

~~~
myself248
They sent me a forehead thermometer (turned out surprisingly useful, hey!), a
crappy USB powerbank, and a very compact sleeping bag.

I dismissed the first as a hiccup, but it was weird enough that I took photos
of the packaging just in case. When the second arrived, I figured something
was up and tried to open an Amazon case, but gave up because the process was
frustrating. When the third arrived, I did more research on the scam and
persisted enough to open a case, and I think they must've done something
because I haven't received any more.

What's odd is that it would be in my short-term interest to have said nothing,
and continued receiving interesting goodies. But it's in my long-term interest
to have a marketplace I can trust. Will my action lead to that? Fuck no, not
until Amazon pulls their head out of their ass.

I'm not holding my breath, and I'm putting a lot more effort into buying
things ABA -- Anywhere But Amazon.

------
Shivetya
This was happening in Georgia with people first receiving seeds but then other
types of packages were also being delivered to people not requesting them.
Pretty much identified as the same type of scam the article related.

* both have video stories attached

[https://www.wsbtv.com/news/georgia/get-surprise-package-
it-m...](https://www.wsbtv.com/news/georgia/get-surprise-package-it-might-be-
scammer-heres-what-you-need-do/SUJHVKJAGRD3BPU4GP7EJ27ZNQ/)

[https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/not-just-seeds-georgians-
re...](https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/not-just-seeds-georgians-receiving-
other-mysterious-packages-china/IS5LOI2R45CBNNUDAYEFBRAGEA/)

------
bentcorner
NPR's podcast Planet Money did a piece on brushing which goes into bit more
detail than the BBC article:
[https://www.npr.org/transcripts/606517326](https://www.npr.org/transcripts/606517326)

------
Johnny555
I want to know the scam behind the rash of SMS message I and many of my
friends have gotten recently. The text is different each time, but similar to:

 _Johnny, urgent alert regarding your USPS shipment 6G55M7 from 03 /25/2020\.
Go to: [url redacted]_

For the past couple of weeks I've gotten one of these every day or so, always
from a different number. I keep marking them spam, but I doubt that helps if
they just keep making up new numbers.

I haven't had the courage to click on the link to see where it goes.

Does the link try to exploit my browser or download malware? Is it just an old
fashioned phishing attack?

~~~
Agentlien
I've gotten similar ones, except with a local firm instead of USPS, and I live
in Sweden.

------
rasfincher
My wife keeps getting packages in the mail containing cheap jewelry, the type
you’d find in a vending machine for $.25 USD. It’s all very strange.

~~~
asddubs
maybe she has an 8 year old secret admirer

~~~
rotexo
or maybe she is feeding an exceptionally intelligent crow

------
aidos
Here’s one we received earlier this year for your analysis. Personal details
were ours including the phone number. The package contained a bag of seeds.
Not the rose stud earrings claimed (that we also didn’t order).

[https://imgur.com/a/sRMLbDj](https://imgur.com/a/sRMLbDj)

------
twodayslate
My girlfriend gets a random package from Amazon about once a week. The
products have not been purchased from her account. When she contacted Amazon
they didn't care and just told her to reset her password. We suspect it is
this. We either keep the items or donate them.

------
dec0dedab0de
These scammers are really not thinking this through. They could send out
something cheap with their company logo on it, and make it double as
advertising.

~~~
paxys
I think not identifying yourself is a key part of a successful scam

------
duxup
Related to what they reference.

Whatever happened to the whole seed panic? There was so much speculation that
made no sense.

------
whywhywhywhy
Far more likely at the beginning of lockdown people panic bought what they
thought were vegetables from amazon grocery but were in fact vegetable seeds
from chinese sellers because they didn't read the descriptions fully.

