Brushing - another shopping scam

[AGTDenton]

I decided to humour myself and watch the video below of fake storage devices.
However, what I wasn't expecting is towards the end of the video the host mentions a scam that I'd not come across before, and couldn't see any obvious mention of it here previously.

It's called "Brushing". The way it works is; a buyer purchases a fake/scam item that they receive, only it either doesn't work or doesn't match the description. The seller then creates a new account on the same platform using the previous customer details. The seller goes through the process of making a purchase using this new cloned account on their shop, but they'll swap the item to something cheap & random which is delivered to the previous customers address.
The purpose of this is to cheat the review system so that they have a 'Verified Purchase' against a fake review and with what looks like a genuine customer name, they send the item to give them the tracking and delivered status.

These scammers don't even need a previous purchase, they just pick random addresses from the yellow pages or equivalent and create fake accounts. Apparently people have ended up receiving weird parcels they have no knowledge of.


Just another thing to be aware of in the modern day of online shopping.

You can skip to 07:35 if you're not interested in the main part of buying a fake storage device.



https://youtu.be/C1jQBvsIv7U?t=455

[Rob_B]

It's been around for ages, not anything you need to really worry about but amazon don't seem to care, it'd be easy for them to locate the fake accounts but it seems they don't want to go to any effort.
Some people must get on a list and can get sent lots of stuff, free Chinese tat!

[DanceswithUnix]

Apparently people have ended up receiving weird parcels they have no knowledge of.

Yep we had one of those, it was full of junk. Phoned Amazon to ask to return it, but the parcel was correctly delivered so no ability to return. We were told the items were a gift, they wouldn't say who from but could pass on a message of thanks if we wanted. Thanks wasn't the sentiment we had in mind at that point.

It offends me that all that stuff just went to landfill.

[AGTDenton]

It's been around for ages, not anything you need to really worry about but amazon don't seem to care, it'd be easy for them to locate the fake accounts but it seems they don't want to go to any effort.
Some people must get on a list and can get sent lots of stuff, free Chinese tat!

Oddly I remember in the very early days of signing up to shopping sites there was more emphasis placed on stopping accounts with the same addresses.
I recall me & my dad having issues because one of us had already signed up so the other couldn't or we had to go through a few more hoops to successfully sign up.

I was aware Amazon/eBay etc... have a product review problem but didn't realise this was how they were doing it for the 'Verified' status. If they were to send free chocolate every time, I'd be all for it .

Yep we had one of those, it was full of junk. Phoned Amazon to ask to return it, but the parcel was correctly delivered so no ability to return. We were told the items were a gift, they wouldn't say who from but could pass on a message of thanks if we wanted. Thanks wasn't the sentiment we had in mind at that point.

It offends me that all that stuff just went to landfill.

Interesting to hear a real example.

That's the sad truth of it all just going to landfill, even if they did send something like a chocolate bar you wouldn't want to eat it in case they had tampered with that in some way and you couldn't assume its genuine either.

[Saracen999]

I remember a ... 'discussion' ... with a company some years back, now. Not Amazon, but a household name.

They delivered a parcel I wasn't expecting. I rang with a "WTH??" type query. They said "Oops, wrong person. Please send it back."

I said "Sure, when is your courier collecting?"

They suggested I send it and they'd "reimburse" the cost.

Uh huh. "Nope, " says I, "You send the courier. i'll have the parcel, and a receipt for its collection, waiting".

This went back and forth about three or four times, before they suggested if I didn't send it back, they'd have to issue an invoice. I pointed out that, first, it was their responsibility to collect the goods sent by their error, not mine to send them.

Second, I said "Go right ahead and issue an invoice. I didn't order the goods and certainly won't pay it. I've notified you of what has happened, several times, and if you invoice for goods not ordered,I will feel free to regard them as unsolicited, and under recent ('cos it was then) changes to consumer rights law, that means I can consider the goods a gift, and use or dispose of them as I feel inclined. But you issue an invoice if you wish. Or just collect the damn package, within 14 days of today, because we've now been arguing about it for two months and I've had enough of it. Fail to collect within 14 days and I will dispose of them, or start charging you for storage".

I followed that with a recorded delivery letter restating my intent, left it about two more months and didn't hear a single further word.

The 'goods' certainly didn't end up in landfill. They were brand new, and worth nearly £500.

I just don't understand why they didn't just send a courier to collect. It could have all been done and dusted in about 72 hours. But judging by their attitude, I didn't fancy my chances if I'd sent them then tried to get them to reimburse the cost. That was one of the first companies to go on my 'never deal with' personal blacklist. I never have, either.

I'd forgotten all about it until this scam parcel thing reminded me. It still makes me smile, even now.

[ik9000]

We had a similar thing with homebase (several years ago now) and a wrongly delivered bin store* that we never ordered. Went on for ages. After mutiple alleged and unsuccesful attempts at collection (to which we called BS since the large and obvious box was living behind the wheelie bins in front of our house ergo eminently collectable) they just told us to keep it. Which was a pain as we hadn't ordered it and didn't want it. Luckily my wife's cousin had a use for it in the end.

*We had ordered some shelves, only some of which arrived IIRC.

[Saracen999]

Similar yeah. A bit different, though. IIRC, the "unsolicited" line wouldn't be valid,as you ordered something, and the wrong thing was delivered. That, IIRC, is covered by "mistake" rather than unsolicited. I hadn't ordered anything.

However, since you tried to get them collected and they gave up and said to keep the stuff, it's academic anyway.

But i can see it being a pain if it's big, bulky and you don't want it. It's lucky you found someone that did want it.

Good job it wasn't a ton of sand, 'delivered' right in front of your garage door.

[circuitmonkey]

I just don't understand why they didn't just send a courier to collect. It could have all been done and dusted in about 72 hours. But judging by their attitude, I didn't fancy my chances if I'd sent them then tried to get them to reimburse the cost. That was one of the first companies to go on my 'never deal with' personal blacklist. I never have, either.

Shocking customer experience!

I'm had the near exact opposite recently, a company I've used a few times for car parts sent two instead of one item that I ordered, I contacted them a few months after delivery when I finally unboxed them and they were only too happy to send a courier out the next day

Mistakes happen, it's how you deal with them that's the difference between repeat custom or getting named and shamed on a public forum.... go on.... name and shame!

[Saracen999]

Indeed. I have a handful of companies that have just been excellent, one being the guys I use for car audio. They're not the cheapest for components but the installation, service and after-sales are superb. I always get a reasonable but not rock-bottom price, and I've given up even checking elsewhere.

So, yup, bad service can mean I never even consider a company again. There's a xouple of banks on that list. But good service can achieve decades of repeat business. Also, it's hard to win a good reputation, but pretty damn easy to lose it again. And if you do, it can be very, very hard, or impossible, to get it back.

[sammyc]

It offends me that all that stuff just went to landfill.

How bad was it..? Short of edible as AGT mentioned (or potentially dangerous/electrical), really no use to anyone at all?