Mystery packages arriving at people’s homes are signs of a new ‘brushing’ scam using personal address details sourced from data hacks
- Many Queenslanders have noticed the resurgence of a malicious mail scam
- ‘Brushing’ helps online stores defraud would-be customers with fake reviews
- A cyber-security expert said with recent data breaches it could get even worse
Mystery packages sent to people’s homes containing products they haven’t ordered has exposed a new online scam trend.
The scam has emerged in south-east Queensland where residents have found various parcels on their doorsteps which have been addressed to them correctly but contain items they’ve never ordered.
The scam, called ‘brushing’, boomed during the Covid-19 pandemic as online shopping exploded in popularity.
Brushing sees online vendors ‘selling’ their products to themselves but shipping them to a real person’s address.
Vendors then use the recipient’s name and details to leave a legitimate-looking review of the product in their online store and positively distort their store’s reviews.
Vendors have to ship the real product to skirt around fail-safes on many e-commerce sites which aim to prevent sellers from leaving false reviews.
Queenslanders have reported a bizarre…
