A Virginia woman named Cindy Smith recently found herself in a peculiar situation when she began receiving over 100 Amazon packages that she hadn’t ordered. According to CBS affiliate station WUSA, the packages contained an assortment of items, including 1,000 headlamps, 800 glue guns, and kids’ binoculars.
Smith expressed her confusion and surprise as the boxes continued to pile up outside her home in Prince William County. “It’s a lot of packages,” she told WUSA. “I didn’t order them.”
Upon further inspection, Smith discovered that the packages were addressed to a name she didn’t recognize – Lixiao Zhang. This led her to suspect that she may have fallen victim to a “brushing” scam, a fraudulent scheme where e-commerce sellers send unsolicited packages to individuals and post fake positive reviews on their behalf to boost their ratings on online marketplaces like Amazon or eBay.
However, WUSA reported that Smith’s situation is more likely linked to a different type of vendor scheme. It appears that sellers in China are attempting to remove unsold merchandise from Amazon fulfillment centers by sending them to random addresses. This method is reportedly cheaper for the sellers than other alternatives.
WUSA traced the return packaging labels on the boxes to 15 different fulfillment centers across nine states. CJ Rosenbaum, a founding partner at the New York law firm Rosenbaum Famularo, explained that this scheme ultimately comes down to money. He stated that sellers in China select random addresses to send their unwanted products as a means of removing them from Amazon’s warehouses.
Amazon has confirmed that the seller account involved in this incident violated the company’s policies and has since been closed. An Amazon spokesperson emphasized their commitment to combating fraud and holding bad actors accountable.
As an environmental science professor, Smith didn’t want the items to go to waste. Instead, she took it upon herself to distribute them throughout her community. She gave glue guns and headlamps to her neighbors, dog shelters, veterinary clinics, and even surprised the staff at a local Burger King with a gift.
Smith’s unexpected delivery spree serves as a reminder of the various scams and schemes that can occur in the e-commerce world. It also highlights the importance of vigilance and reporting suspicious activity to protect oneself and others from potential fraud.