NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Most people these days order things online. So when something shows up on your front porch or in your mailbox, it's not unusual.
But what if something shows up that you didn't order? It's now happening to people across the country.
If it hasn't happened to you yet, be prepared. And there are some important things you should know if and or when it does.
Candi Kready showed us a collection of white mailing envelopes, explaining, "So these are the first five packages."
She said they started arriving about a week ago, sometimes several at a time.
"And did you order any of this?" we asked.
"We did not order anything."
"And what's in there?" we asked of one of the envelopes.
"There's nothing in there. It's just empty," she replied.
And they just keep coming.
Kready showed us another envelope with something in it.
"It was just stuffed in there," she described.
"And this is just tissue paper?" we wondered.
"No, it's like another plastic bag," she told us.
Kready wasn't sure what was going on until she saw others describing the exact same thing happening to them on TikTok.
According to the Better Business Bureau's National Scam Tracker, in the last nearly three weeks, hundreds and hundreds of people across the country have reported getting the same sort of mysterious envelopes from, we found, an address in New York that doesn't exist. And the sender? Supposedly from a man named Davve with two Vs Garzaz who does not appear to exist either.
"We call it a brushing scam," explained Robyn Householder, head of the middle Tennessee BBB.
And it's all about using your information to boost someone else's ratings online.
"The internet is a really wonderful tool, but it's also a very frightening tool because it does give scammers so much information about us," Householder said.
So here's how it works. When you receive a package, you become what's known as a verified buyer on online platforms like Amazon, Walmart, and eBay. And the sender, usually an international, third-party can then use your verified buyer information to post fake positive online reviews using your name. These fake reviews are supposed to help boost or inflate the product’s ratings and sales numbers which the seller hopes will then lead to actual sales and higher visibility on these e-commerce sites.
If this sounds familiar, it's the same thing as all of those envelopes of mysterious seeds that people got in the mail back in 2020.
This time around, in most cases, the packages are empty though some people have reported getting hair clips or hair ties.
Or in the BBB's Robyn Householder's case?
"I got 12 baseballs," Householder told us.
The good news is if you get something, like baseballs, you can keep it.
The bad news though is that even if you get an empty envelope, it likely means your personal information and data has been compromised.
"It's an immediate call to action for you to check your credit rating, change your passwords, see if there's any unusual activity. If you're currently not getting banking alerts for transactions, set that up for all of your credit cards," Householder advised.
And if the package appears to be from a third-party retailer, contact the retailer and ask them to remove any reviews under your name.
And finally, if you get one of these packages, be prepared to get more.
Candi Kready wondered, "So is it going to stop? When is it going to stop? How do we make it stop?"
It turns out, it's not that easy.
According to the BBB's Householder, "Because you accepted the package, that scammer now knows that the address and the name is legitimate which means they're probably going to use it more often."
At last count, Candi Kready had received a total of 9 bags.
As we mentioned, not everyone gets empty envelopes. Kready did get one bag that had a broken bottle of perfume in it.
A NewsChannel 5 employee's dad got a pair of plastic dog toys. And I got a metal gadget that removes corn from the cob.
To report a mysterious mailing that you received but did not order, go to the BBB National Scam Tracker.
