Amazon ‘brushing’ scam. I don’t understand it

[Hummusandstuff]

Hi all. Apparently this scam is really common. For the last three days I have received parcels from Amazon addressed to me with my correct address on and delivered by the usual courier.
I order quite regularly and am expecting a few things but usually choose the ‘delivery day’ option to save the couriers delivering multiple days. Assumed this has gone wrong and my stuff had been dispatched early.
Have opened the parcels just now and I didn’t order this stuff.
Google tells me this is the very common ‘brushing scam’ where sellers send fake parcels of cheap items to boost their seller scores.
I would have expected the scammers to send lightweight things but one item is a 6 pack of 1.5 litre mineral water!
Advice is to send tracking info from the label to Amazon but Google says they don’t do anything about it and tell recipients to keep or throw the items.
Apparently some people get this for months with dozens of parcels. My poor courier! The poor planet! The plastic 😞.
the other two parcels were:
Multi pack of silicone muffin trays.
pack of 6 of those giant checked laundry bags.

Anyone else had this?

I've had this happen to me. Got two random parcels of things I wouldn't ever use. Amazon did nothing. No idea what benefit it is to anyone.

I dont understand how it boosts their seller scores, in what way?

They do it to use your account to boost 5 star reviews if I remember right.

Whoever sent the parcels will use your name to write a five star review, and Amazon will mark the review as a verified purchase, ie. legitimate and to be trusted, because they know they sent you the parcels. So the seller boosts their star rating and trustworthiness, increasing business.

This happened to my Dad, he got one of those phone cradle things to use on a car and some CBD oil. Bizarre.

Does the fact that the scammer gets to write a review mean that the recipient can't write her own? If it were possible, I would want to write the most scathing possible one star review every time this happened to me.

There was a lovely character in Eastenders years ago (Fatboy, I think) who used to say it all the time. As I recall he was really kind and thoughtful and got murdered , hidden in a car boot and squished to oblivion in a car-crushing facility.
EDIT: Sorry - wrong thread😏

Does this mean the OPs account has been hacked then? How is it possible for scammer to use the account to write reviews for themselves otherwise?
And most importantly: has anyone found a way to stop it?

How are they getting your details though? Address etc?

I don’t know the answers to any of the subsequent questions, I’m sorry! Just know what I’ve read on sites when I’ve looked into it after it happened to someone I know.

I thought you were implying brushing led to murder 😅

I've had several deliveries of garden seeds. I was just worried they were a cover for drugs and someone would come after me.

(Placing those two comments together makes me sound slightly unhinged.)

How can they write a review? I thought only the account holder can do that.

I’m an Amazon seller and this sounds so bizarre. Amazon are really strict on reviews so I just don’t see how a scammer would be able to get access to your account to order the goods from your account and then leave a review from your account. And where did they get your name an address from? f you look in “your orders” in your Amazon account, is the order there?

There’s a real problem with fake reviews on Amazon but through fake Amazon accounts.

What did Amazon say to you? Maybe they messed up and sent somebody else’s order to you?

I’d be happy to get free stuff!

How?

Okay so I guess it is a thing: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=G33XVXQPUV79Z2ZC

Having thought about it, I think they most likely make up a scam account with your address details, then send you the product and write a review themselves. Because the things I've had arrive haven't been ordered from my account at all, so it's not a review from my account, rather a review from a fake account in my name. They don't have my payment details, just my name and address.

If only they knew that I never buy an item where there are loads of great reviews and pictures in the reviews, because it's obvious that it is a con.

Why does the Amazon system not just link the reviews to accounts? I don’t understand how an unscrupulous seller can write a review in someone’s name - Amazon can see the review didn’t come from the supposed customer’s account. So why would they accept it and verify it?

Ah right. I see.

Amazon is a mess.

I assume

I mrs smith live at x address

They set up a fake account, also new smith at x address.

You get the item but it's not on your account. Account 2 ordered it, "received it" and writes the review.

The review just says a name/nickname name and rough location doesn't it? Not your full account email.

The advice online is that I don’t need to worry about having been hacked. The sellers have nothing more than my name and address.
The orders are not in my account order history. There is nothing in my review history that I can see.
What sellers are selling water, bags and bakeware? One of those massive Chinese companies I assume?
Amazon don’t even make it easy to report
them.
Anyway. Don’t trust reviews.
Slightly dreading more parcels. I don’t like waste or clutter. I will continue to use Amazon. For various reasons I don’t have the ability to spend time on shopping at the moment.
I’ll find uses for the random tat.

I thought you were implying this is what happens if you start talking about brushing scams 🤣🤣😂

Squished to oblivion 😮

I don’t like waste

Some of the items can be donated to charity or given away? I agree, it’s wasteful to dump them.
The actual carbon footprint of delivering to you in a van that is probably delivering to your area anyway is pretty negligible.

I had this but it was just the one item....a large dog bed. I don't have a large dog...or any dog.

Sellers can scam with substitute goods, but this sounds more like an Amazon software glitch, sending the wrong items or to the wrong address, not an intentional scam. It’s no benefit to a seller to spend £££ on sending you mineral water instead of what you ordered.

I’ve had random Amazon stuff in the past that I haven’t ordered, as have other people I know, and customer service just said it happens sometimes.

Of course sellers can’t do this, it’s bollocks.

It’s much cheaper and easier to pay a company to set up false Amazon accounts and write a fake review that way. They generally have only 1 review to their name.