Have you ever had a feeling that something was wrong? Was it an odd feeling that you were a small part of bigger agenda in a way that you couldn’t comprehend?
Have you ever received a package that you didn’t order in the past three or four years? Was it a small package?
Over the past three years, people with Amazon and other retail accounts have reported mysteriously receiving unordered packages containing cell phone chargers and even seeds.
Has this ever happened to you?
It may seem like a weird and innocuous occurrence. And after all, you got a free gift from someone or some company without even asking for it.
So, what could be the harm?
This is called a “Brushing,” scam. Someone has gotten ahold of your personal information and they are using it to improve their seller’s ratings and reviews on sites like Amazon.
Let’s talk about the brushing scam, why you should be worried, and what you can do about it.
Brushing Scam 101
Back in July 2020, there was a brazen brushing scam that made news headlines. It may have gone unnoticed because the world had started coming to grips with the pandemic.
Americans and Canadian citizens were receiving small boxes from Amazon and other e-commerce sites. All of them contained small packets of seeds that were marked as coming from China. None of the recipients ordered the seeds.
In other instances, people have reported getting small electronic components, like wires or phone chargers. Sometimes the packages were listed as containing small electronic components but actually contained seeds from China.
This is a brushing scam. It is a relatively new kind of scam that started in the late 2010s.
Scam artists will use malicious JavaScript code to hijack a legitimate e-commerce site. Have you ever noticed something weird about your usual e-commerce checkout page?
Sometimes if you look, you will notice an extra alphanumeric digit or a lack of one on a checkout page.
The scam artist will steal the personal info you input or copy your profile.
Or they could use regular email phishing tactics.
Sometimes, you may actually make it easy for scam artists to co-opt your private data.
How often do you post your address, phone number, social security number, and full name on social media to answer a questionnaire or take part in a trivia game? Sometimes scam artists send those questionnaires. Or they use an algorithm to scan for such data.
They then send you an unsolicited gift. But it is small and lightweight to save them on shipping.
They then coopt your identity to give their Amazon seller’s profile great reviews and great ratings. The scam artist may even use your profile or your name and vital data to post phony reviews praising the product you received unsolicited.
It may sound like nothing, but the average online consumer trusts any online review and rating they see as gospel and without question. And any Amazon, or any e-commerce seller, with the best reviews, ratings, and scores gets the most business and attention online.
It may sound like nothing, but the average online consumer trusts any online review and rating they see as gospel and without question. And any Amazon, or any e-commerce seller, with the best reviews, ratings, and scores gets the most business and attention online.
Amazon sellers with great scores and ratings, legitimate, and scammers alike, are also listed higher on search engine queries.
And that is why you received a small, unsolicited gift. To post reviews or ratings, a product must first be sent into the real world. So, whatever money the scam artist paid to mail out small unsolicited gifts is recouped when they sell more legitimate products or run bigger scams.
So why is this a problem for you?
Why You Should Be Worried
If you give someone an inch, they will take a mile.
Some scammer is pretending to be you online for their own professional aggrandizement. They are writing online profiles with your name to make them look good.
Where will they stop?
And scammers don’t need a lot of data to steal your identity. They could use your basic Amazon profile data to try to access your financial accounts online.
And you shouldn’t take it for granted that a scammer will stop after using your identity to improve their seller’s rating.
What You Should Do
You can keep the item if you received it. I don’t know if you want to plant any unsolicited seed you received by mail.
Contact Amazon’s Customer Service and report receipt of an unsolicited package. Do the same for any other e-commerce site. The scammer’s profile, and their glowing phony reviews, could soon be deleted.
After that, you may want o change your passwords. Check on your bank and credit card accounts to see if there is any suspicious activity.
You could even file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
Whatever you do, don’t just ignore the incident. You have no idea what that scammer could do next.
Your personal data could just be the seed of bigger scam agenda that could grow out of control later.
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Allen Francis was an academic advisor, librarian, and college adjunct for many years with no money, no financial literacy, and no responsibility when he had money. To him, the phrase “personal finance,” contains the power that anyone has to grow their own wealth. Allen is an advocate of best personal financial practices including focusing on your needs instead of your wants, asking for help when you need it, saving and investing in your own small business.