Brushing: The Free Amazon Stuff Scam

There’s another scam in town and it’s a doozy. It involves getting a delivery of free stuff from Amazon completely out of the blue. You may think this sounds like a Christmas miracle, but watch out. If this happens, the scammer is the real winner and there’s a real danger to you.

The scam is called brushing. Boxes of items that were never ordered by recipients begin arriving. There is no return address except for Amazon. You have no idea who ordered the items, which vary in size and value. For example, in one case, a humidifier, a hand warmer, a flashlight, a Bluetooth speaker and a computer vacuum cleaner arrived unordered.

Why would someone do this? The perpetrators are usually foreign, third-party sellers. They send the items using your address and your Amazon information to make it appear that you are a verified buyer who loved their merchandise and then wrote a glowing online review about it. All of this translates to more sales and profits for them.

How You Could Be Hurt

Being able to have items sent to you under the guise that you purchased them indicates that they probably have some of your Amazon account information. At a minimum, they have your name and address and, possibly, your phone number and a password. Once the information is out there, it could be used for nefarious purposes.

What can you do?

• Report the incident to Amazon. Contact Amazon’s Customer Service if this happens to you because brushing and fake reviews are against Amazon’s policies. Amazon will investigate and take action. Get their contact information by going directly to Amazon’s website. Be careful of searching for the support numbers.
• Change your account password. Your personal information may have been compromised. Keep a close eye on your credit report and credit card bills.
• Keep the merchandise. You have a legal right to keep unordered merchandise, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

For other questions you may have regarding shipments of unordered merchandise, contact your BBB at (800) 649-6814, or visit their website at bbb.org.