When You Receive What You Had Never Ordered:
Then You May Be
a Victim of a Brushing Scam
At first, one might think that when you receive items that you had never ordered and were never billed for the Gods of the Internet have smiled upon you. But when those mysterious anonymous orders keep coming, you will feel those same Internet Gods have now somehow cursed you. Neither, of course, would be true. When something is woefully amiss in our online world, some form of scam is usually afoot. In fact, there is indeed an online scam that involves the shipment of goods to people who had never ordered the goods that were delivered.
This particular scam is called "brushing;" and that name is rooted in Chinese online commerce. According to various sources, brushing derives from a Chinese term that means "brushing up sales results." In a posting dated October 30, 2023, the NordVPN website explained the origins of the term thusly:
In the context of online scams, the term “brushing” comes from Chinese e-commerce and refers to the practice of “brushing up” your sales results. By creating fake orders and sending large numbers of parcels, sellers “brush up” (improve) their sales numbers to appear more reputable on online marketplaces.
On June 24, 2024, CBS News reported on one family in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, who have been inundated by a random, but nonetheless relentless, stream of items shipped from online retailer, Temu. About Temu, Wikipedia informs us that:
Temu is an online marketplace operated by the Chinese e-commerce company PDD Holdings. It offers heavily discounted consumer goods which are mostly shipped to consumers directly from China.
As CBS reported, over an extended period of time, Temu had shipped to the victim a wide variety of consumer goods, including: "20 different military hats, cameras, knives, a crawfish trap, a belt with a golden buckle shaped like a car, and about 30 fishing vests for which he never asked." In another report by CBS, dated August 4, 2023, a woman from Minnesota received "some really exciting baby reveal balloons" that were shipped from Amazon. Not only had this victim never ordered the balloons, she was not even expecting a baby.
The US Postal Service is quite aware of this troubling trend. As USPS explains it, what drives brushing scams is that some personal information about a victim's address has been compromised. The USPS details how the scam works.
This is how it works.
A person receives packages or parcels
containing various sorts of items which were not ordered or requested by
the recipient. While the package may be addressed to the recipient,
there is not a return address, or the return address could be that of a
retailer. The sender of the item(s) is usually an international,
third-party seller who has found the recipient’s address online. The
intention is to give the impression that the recipient is a verified
buyer who has written positive online reviews of the merchandise,
meaning: they write a fake review in your name. These fake reviews help
to fraudulently boost or inflate the products’ ratings and sales
numbers, which they hope results in an increase of actual sales in the
long-run. Since the merchandise is usually cheap and low-cost to ship,
the scammers perceive this as a profitable pay-off.
On June 8, 2023, the Better Business Bureau posted its own alert about the growing problem of brushing scams. The BBB also mentioned that the motivation for the bogus shipments is so the unscrupulous retailer can post fraudulent product reviews in a victim's name. A second motivation here is a boost in the amount of sales for the products that were part of the bogus shipment.
By using the brushing scam, they also are increasing their sales numbers. After all, they aren’t purchasing the items since the payment goes right back to them. Increased sales numbers, even though padded with fake purchases, look good for the company and help lead to more sales.
On its alert webpage about brushing, the Better Business Bureau advises victims of brushing to do the following:
What can you do?
Notify the retailer. Brushing and fake
reviews are against Amazon’s policies, so contact Amazon Customer
Service if this happens to you and the product appears to come from
Amazon. They will investigate and take action against the bad actor.
Amazon also takes security seriously and encourages customers to report
fraudulent purchases or other security issues. If the package appears to
come through another established business, go directly to their website
to get their contact information. If you prefer to contact the business
by phone, be cautious about searching for support phone numbers.
Attempt to identify the sender. If you can identify the sender of
unordered packages, consider checking for potential false reviews in
your name — and ask for the reviews to be removed.
Check your
account for recent orders. Some targets of brushing scams can be deluged
with unordered packages, creating a serious problem. If this happens,
consider whether to refuse package delivery at your home address and
temporarily direct items that you did order to a package acceptance
service.
Change your account passwords. This may be a sign that
personal information has been compromised, and to improve account
security, keep a close eye on credit reports and credit card bills.
You are allowed to keep the merchandise. The Federal Trade
Commission says you have a legal right to keep unordered merchandise.
Protect your identity. BBB advises to take all necessary precautions
to prevent identity theft. Be careful when entering personal information
online, and ensure you use a secure site.
Amazon also has a page devoted to the brushing scam. Amazon, however, seems less willing to have the customer simply keep the goods that that came from a bogus shipment. After doing due diligence to verify that the package was not ordered by the victim or sent to the victim by a friend or family member as a gift, Amazon requests that the victim "report the package online by going to the Report Unwanted Package form
." Amazon has a separate process for reporting "unwanted package deliveries."
Amazon will investigate these fraudulent shipments, and requests the
victim's cooperation. This below is from the short page Amazon offers
for guidance for victims of brushing.
You can also contact Customer Service who will support you in
reporting the issue to the investigations team. Please provide the
following information:
Number of unwanted packages received.
A
tracking number from at least one of the packages (found on the shipping
label)
Any additional information to assist the investigation.
Whenever Amazon finds shippers who engage in brushing, the online giant will take "the appropriate action against bad actors that violate our policies. Amazon may suspend or remove selling privileges, withhold payments, and work with law enforcement during investigations."
In its report of June 21, 2024, cited above, CBS quoted attorney
Katherine Baker, who she teaches contract law at Chicago-Kent College of
Law. Attorney Baker stated the obvious: the sites from where the
goods originated puts too much of the onus on the victim in order to
rectify the situation. As Baker said to CBS:
It is not the responsibility of the receiver to figure out where
this came from. It's definitely not their responsibility to load up
their car and bring all of this stuff to FedEx or UPS.
After at first brushing off the CBS reporter, online retailer Temu did
finally responded to the CBS report much like Amazon has.
In the case of brushing, Temu strictly prohibits this practice
and will take action against violators. If you receive a Temu package
you did not order, please contact our customer service team. They will
assist you in reporting the issue to our investigations team.
Meanwhile that family in Illinois has had a difficult time "keeping
the living room clean," as unwanted packages shipped from Temu keep coming and piling up.
Return to sender, address unknown
I wouldn't mind one or two of
those fishing vests.
No such number, no such zone
— Elvis Presley
(Songwriters: Otis
Blackwell, Winfield Scott)
¯\_(ツ)_/¯¯
Gerald Reiff
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