Unwanted package from Amazon

[CaptTom]

I fail to see what Amazon's motive would be for investigating brushing.

It would require paid staff time. It would reduce their sales, and associated fees. It would reduce the number of reviews, further reducing sales. It would reduce the number of sellers.

I think I recall some web site which tried to identify phony reviews. Not sure if they ever made it. Maybe someone on here has an update.

But I'm pretty sure you won't see Amazon cracking down on this anytime soon.

 

[ERD50]

I fail to see what Amazon's motive would be for investigating brushing.

It would require paid staff time. It would reduce their sales, and associated fees. It would reduce the number of reviews, further reducing sales. It would reduce the number of sellers.
....

It's a negative for Amazon if people can't trust the reviews.

Maybe not a net negative, or maybe small in Amazon's eyes, so maybe they don't care, I don't know. I would think maintaining a reputation would be worth some investment in time/money.

-ERD50

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

For fun, I would go to my drawer where pens go to live out their useful lives and collect 5 dried up plastic pens, then send them to the address of the brushing vendor, but without your return address. With a note, "Returning the favor."

 

[Sue J]

We had this happen twice. It was our address but someone else's name. I contacted Amazon and they didn't want any of the package info or tracking numbers. They just said I would not be charged and to dispose of the items any way I wanted. It was dog toys, hemp oil, a women's XL bodysuit and something else that I can't remember. Some things went to Goodwill, the hemp oil went to someone who would appreciate that.

I asked Amazon if they could prevent this from happening again and they must have done something because it hasn't happened again. Yet.

 

[sengsational]

Despite jellystomper's fine explanation (above), I'm still confused about the destination the product is shipped to. Why not just send all 20 to some known person? It would still show as 20 verified purchases (1 each to the 20 accounts) and that they shipped under the "ship to another address" option.

It just isn't making any sense that the sender would go to the trouble of getting 20 good, random addresses.

I guess there is something about Amazon's system I don't understand. Which would be no big surprise.

The scheme needs legit looking transactions, and 20 deliveries to the same location would be identified and removed from the vendor's statistics. One other thing that's not been called out specifically here (that I saw) was there is usually a big imbalance in value between what is ordered, and what is sent; getting a validated review on a $200 item might get the vendor into the running for making a $50 profit, and all it cost was a few dollars for shipping the pens.

 

[Jvcr]

Did this involve a cheap, throwaway item (which seem to be used for "brushing" by sellers) or something of value that someone might actually want?



The practice of "brushing" as described in the NPR article referenced above sounds downright creepy.

Yes— it was $10 face cream. It went in the garbage can because who knows what was really in the container....

 

[jollystomper]

One other thing that's not been called out specifically here (that I saw) was there is usually a big imbalance in value between what is ordered, and what is sent; getting a validated review on a $200 item might get the vendor into the running for making a $50 profit, and all it cost was a few dollars for shipping the pens.

This a great point. The vendor could have shipped a very cheap item but used the order information to make it look like an expensive item and to then place the bogus review for the expensive item.

 

[CaptTom]

This a great point. The vendor could have shipped a very cheap item but used the order information to make it look like an expensive item and to then place the bogus review for the expensive item.

Good point. But if it was a "fulfilled by Amazon" sale, then the seller would have to order (or have a third party order) the real items.

The seller environment on Amazon is cut-throat. This sort of phony review scamming goes on because Amazon tolerates it. Maybe even condones it. They certainly know it's happening, and have obviously decided it's either not worth fighting, or it's better for Amazon to ignore it.

As a buyer, I know to take the reviews with a grain of salt. If there are thousands of positive reviews, great. But if it's an off-beat item with a small market, there might only be a few reviews, and I have to go on gut instinct whether or not to trust them.

I've had good luck doing that. Maybe the vendor had to falsely pump up the reviews just to make it into the search results. But I know that Amazon will back me up if I have to return an item, so it's worth the risk.

 

[sengsational]

I bought cheap stuff on eBay, paid with PayPal, and now I get many of these kinds of solicitations on the email I use (exclusively) for PayPal. So the supplier of some former purchase put my name on a list.

The image is of an email I received that says they will pay me, in advance, if I buy something, given that I promise to leave a review.

 

[RunningBum]

I think I recall some web site which tried to identify phony reviews. Not sure if they ever made it. Maybe someone on here has an update.

fakespot.com? I use that site a lot before making a purchase on Amazon.

 

[Sesq]

I got dinged yesterday. Someone hacked my account on walmart and ordered $109 in banker boxes (to be sent to me) and a $100 Google play gift card (digital delivery) and charged it to my card on file.

I had been lazy and the password was one that had been used other places (my fault). I chatted with walmart and they cancelled the banker boxes, but couldn't do anything about the giftcard. Told me to contact my bank and dispute. I did, it was taken care of.

But I wonder why they ordered the bankers boxes. I suspect that walmart has some anti-fraud policy that is triggered if you don't order something of equal value - but that's just speculation.

 

[imnontrad]

Yep, "Brushing".
Don't be surprised if you get more of these packages the scammer will use your address more than once AND sell it to other scammers.
Change your Amazon password to a "passphrase" at least 16 characters long. If you can figure it out, leave a review for this company/item received about the scam. Also set up ALL of your credit cards to notify of all purchases over $0.01 via text/email. Plus notify Amazon so they can kick the company off of the website.

https://www.lifelock.com/learn-internet-security-scams-brushing-scams.html

 

[1RichCrook]

Wife received an email from UPS on Wednesday last week telling her she was receiving something on Friday that required a signature. She couldn’t figure out what it could be and neither of us planned to be at home Friday. Housekeeper was coming so we asked her to sign for it if it showed up while we were out.
Package showed up while housekeeper was here but they dropped it off before she got to the door.
Wife opened the box when she got home to find a new Xbox! No one we know would send us such a gift( not the gamer type) so we have no idea where it came from. Shipping tag says it was sent from a Walmart shipping center in KY but when my wife called Walmart they say the coding on the shipper isn’t theirs.
There are no unaccounted for charges on our cards or at our bank so
What scam is this?

Rich

 

[bolt]

Topic: Unwanted AMZN mail in Amazon wraping in BLK marker :: RTS!

 

[iRent2u]

Free junk

 

[sengsational]

What scam is this?

Probably a neighbor that had a stolen credit card. They figured they'd grab it off your porch.

 

[tuckeverlasting]

DS had a Dell monitor from Best Buy show up, delivered by UPS, addressed to him--a total mystery! Nothing was ever charged to him. Despite contacting everyone involved that he could think of--Best Buy, UPS, random friends--no one knew anything. He had recently bought something else from Best Buy, but that was the only connection he could think of. He lives in a secure building, so little chance of stealing it after delivery.

 

[1RichCrook]

Not likely

Probably a neighbor that had a stolen credit card. They figured they'd grab it off your porch.

Doubt that. Gated community and my driveway about an eighth of a mile long to my house on the top of a hill. Not a typical neighborhood.

 

[Souschef]

I had an even stranger one, but not from Amazon. We are in the process of doing some remodeling, and we get all kinds of packages.
We opened one which we thought was a sewing desk that had to be assembled. We were shocked that the carton contained a bunch of wooden finished parts , but No instructions, and more importantly NO assembly hardware.
I called the number on the shipping label, left messages, but got no response. I then googled the address in Houston TX, and the name was obviously Chinese.
We searched all our ordering records, and came up blank. I am just going to toss it.