What are brushing scams and the way do I keep protected?

Have you ever ever acquired a package deal you by no means ordered? It might be a warning signal that your information has been compromised, with extra fraud to comply with.

23 Dec 2025
 • 
,
5 min. learn

International e-commerce gross sales are predicted to exceed $6.4 trillion in 2025. And a big share of those will come through marketplaces. However whereas they ostensibly supply comfort and security for customers and expanded attain for companies, there’s a darker facet to the trade. In 2024, Amazon alone proactively blocked over 275 million suspected pretend critiques, and took “enforcement actions” in opposition to hundreds of people.

This underground trade has grown to the purpose the place on a regular basis customers would possibly discover themselves unwittingly conscripted into the creation of faux critiques. The underside line is that this: if an merchandise turns up at your door that you haven’t any reminiscence of ordering, don’t ignore it. Learn on to search out out what it might imply.

What’s a brushing rip-off?

Brushing scams are a sort of e-commerce fraud the place a vendor sends a package deal to an apparently random particular person’s deal with. The merchandise is normally of low worth and isn’t meant as a present of altruism. Moderately, it’s an try by the vendor to fraudulently inflate the product’s score on e-commerce marketplaces.

It really works like this:

1. A scammer will get maintain of a listing of names and mailing addresses — sometimes listed on cybercrime boards after information breaches, or through individuals search websites. They could even scrape this information from publicly accessible sources.
2. The fraudster creates a pretend purchaser account on an e-commerce platform or market the place they promote their merchandise.
3. The fraudster makes use of the account to “purchase” their product on that platform and ships the product to the sufferer’s deal with.
4. The scammer makes use of the pretend account to submit a 5-star evaluation, boosting (or “brushing up”) the merchandise’s fame and visibility.

The primary the sufferer normally hears concerning the rip-off is once they obtain the unsolicited parcel.

What might it imply?

Why would anybody thoughts receiving free items via the submit, even when they’re low-cost and light-weight? It’s not as innocent a rip-off because it appears. For one factor, the truth that you’re being focused in a brushing scheme in any respect might imply that your private information is being shared on the cybercrime underground. For an additional, the scammers is perhaps testing your particulars are right, to be able to transfer onto a second stage, which includes extra critical id fraud.

There are additionally extra malign variations of the scheme the place a QR code is included contained in the package deal you obtain. Scanning it’ll most probably take you to a malicious/phishing web site designed to put in malware or trick you into sharing extra private data.

Lastly, there’s an oblique value associated to such scams. They slowly and insidiously erode the belief customers place in market/e-commerce evaluation techniques.

How do I do know if I’ve been victimized?

It shouldn’t take an excessive amount of effort to work out in case you’ve been singled out by brushing scammers. In case you obtain a low-value, poor high quality merchandise within the submit that you haven’t any reminiscence of buying, this must be an instantaneous pink flag. A imprecise or lacking return deal with, and a attainable QR code contained in the package deal, are additionally warning indicators.

To double test, evaluation your emails and any accounts you have got with e-commerce/on-line market platforms, to search for just lately bought items. It’s value additionally checking your financial institution accounts and credit score reviews for suspicious exercise, because the scammers could have already moved on to the subsequent stage of the scheme.

What ought to I do if I obtain a package deal?

In case you obtain one thing within the submit which you can’t keep in mind ordering, reduce danger by taking the next steps.

• Double test it’s not a present by asking your family/pals/household in the event that they’ve ordered something in your identify just lately.
• Don’t scan any QR codes that could be dispatched contained in the parcel
• Examine no cash has left your checking account and/or new credit score strains haven’t been opened in your identify
• Guarantee you have got multi-factor authentication (MFA) arrange in your on-line banking/bank card accounts
• Allow MFA on all on-line procuring and electronic mail accounts
• Report the fraud to the related market (eg Amazon). Most ought to have a devoted place to report brushing fraud
• Don’t hassle attempting to return the merchandise to sender. It’s yours to maintain, if you wish to

How do I keep protected from brushing scams?

There are steps you can even take to cease brushing scams from even focusing on you. All of it goes again to what private information of yours is out there to the fraudsters.

Granted, there’s not a lot you are able to do if a corporation you do enterprise with will get breached, spilling your particulars. However there are id safety companies you should use which scan the darkish net for doubtlessly compromised data. A few of them can be found as a part of a normal house safety package deal. In case you discover that any accounts have been compromised, change your passwords instantly. It’s additionally value placing a credit score freeze in place to dam any makes an attempt to make use of your identify to be able to run up debt on new playing cards.

As scammers additionally harvest information from the general public net, it’s necessary to get into good privateness habits. Meaning minimizing what you share on social media, locking your accounts down so solely pals can view your posts, and take away any private particulars like house addresses, birthdates and telephone numbers.

Lastly, cut back the chance of scammers getting your particulars from information brokers, by opting out on “individuals finder” websites like BeenVerified, Spokeo, and TruthFinder. It’s going to require a bit of labor, and you’ll possible must revisit these websites each few months to repeat the method, however is value the additional effort.

Brushing scams are simply considered one of some ways fraudsters weaponize your private data in opposition to you. Sadly, mitigating this danger shouldn’t be a case of “one and accomplished”. You’ll want to take care of steady vigilance over your digital world. In the end, it’s the value we pay for entry to the companies we love.