Residents of the Tampa Bay area of Florida reported receiving unsolicited masks from China at their addresses, potentially part of a “brushing” scheme to boost sales, local media reported this week.
One of these recipients was local resident Shan Sharp of Clearwater, who told local NBC news affiliate WLFA on Tuesday that she discovered two packages of masks when she recently went to open her mailbox.
“I looked at the label and it had Shanghai, China, from a certain district,” she said. “All of this information, including my cell phone number, (was) on there … I was afraid to even open it after I saw it. I didn’t want to keep it in my house.”
At that point, Sharp threw the package in the trash and called local investigative reporter Shannon Behnken, whose hotline “Better Call Behnken” describes itself as “devoted to exposing fraud, protecting consumers, and holding the powerful accountable.”
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the packages are likely part of a deceitful technique known as “brushing,” where third-party sellers create fake orders in order to post positive reviews about themselves on sites such as Amazon. – READ MORE
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