A brushing scam is a type of scam where a seller creates fake orders to boost their ratings on e-commerce sites). The seller pays someone a small amount to place a fake order, or just uses another persons information to place an order themselves. Since a shipment usually has to take place for an order to be considered valid by the e-commerce site, the seller will frequently ship an empty box or some cheap item. These fake orders, if unnoticed, can boost the sellers rating, which can make it more likely that their items will appear at the top of search results on e-commerce sites. The person who placed the order may also post a positive rating or review, further artificially increasing the credibility of the items listing).

In addition to e-commerce brushing scams, there are also brushing scams where a person receives packages or parcels containing various sorts of items which were not ordered or requested by the recipient. The sender of the item(s) is usually an international, third-party seller who has found the recipient’s address online. The intention is to give the impression that the recipient is a verified buyer who has written positive online reviews of the merchandise, meaning they write a fake review in the recipients name. These fake reviews help to fraudulently boost or inflate the products’ ratings and sales numbers, which they hope results in an increase of actual sales in the long-run. Since the merchandise is usually cheap and low-cost to ship, the scammers perceive this as a profitable pay-off.

Although brushing scams may seem victimless, they can compromise personal information and set up victims for other types of scams or identity theft in the future. If you receive a package that you did not order yourself, it is recommended to notify the retailer and not send money for an unsolicited package. Contact the retailer directly and ask whether they are willing to pay for the return to them or let you keep the item.