Have You Heard About Brushing and China Seeds?

[Deleted]

I order a fair number of my jewelry findings direct from China. The items are identical to those I can purchase here but are a lot cheaper. The only downside has been long shipping times, so I have to plan ahead.

The other day, I randomly got 2 packages from China labeled "jewelry" on the custom's declarations. When I opened them, I found 2 packages of some sort of plant seeds. 

Thanks to someone's random FB post, I discovered they are part of a scheme known as "brushing".

Basically they send people invasive seeds and it gives them a tracking number for the China-USPS system. Once they have one, then they then use your information to create fake positive reviews on AliExpress, WISH, etc... to raise their rankings and make themselves appear legit and get more sales.

I did report mine to the USDA as requested, but I didn't save my packaging. I do hear this can happen over and over, so I will save them in the future. 

Weirdest thing ever. Especially since others in my community have started receiving them as well. 

www.nytimes.com/2020/07/26/us/seeds-from-china-mail.html

[Tennesseer]

I read abut this the other day.  When I saw you received some of the seeds I was going to tell you to notify the USDA but I see you have already done so.

[Deleted]

Jul 27, 2020 13:10:01 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

I read abut this the other day.  When I saw you received some of the seeds I was going to tell you to notify the USDA but I see you have already done so.

The local office posted my story on the local FB groups asking if others have received them and letting people know where to report them.

Another person here got mushrooms! 

So weird. I've seen reports of people who start getting random crap every day, and I really hope I am not one of them...

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Jul 27, 2020 14:01:14 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

Jul 27, 2020 13:10:01 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

I read abut this the other day.  When I saw you received some of the seeds I was going to tell you to notify the USDA but I see you have already done so.

The local office posted my story on the local FB groups asking if others have received them and letting people know where to report them.

Another person here got mushrooms! 

So weird. I've seen reports of people who start getting random crap every day, and I really hope I am not one of them...

I'd be tempted to see if the mushrooms might be the fun kind!🤣

I read about this somewhere but forgot where. Scammers are getting more and more creative and clever. Probably even easier right now with people increasing their online spending.

[Deleted]

She said it did say "psychedelic" on the label, but they tossed them anyway.

[Deleted]

I saw the news story, but you're the first person I "know" who actually got them.  Super weird but I would not be able to resist planting them (in a pot, of course) to see what happened.

[Lizard Queen]

I read of a poster on city-data getting one, and my old HS friend/college roommate posted on Facebook just yesterday about getting a package of seeds, too.

[CCL]

So why do they bother sending anything? Why not send an empty envelope? Do you suppose they could be some kind of toxic or poisonous plant seeds or something? Weird!

[Tennesseer]

This is the picture which accompanied the article I read the other day.

[Deleted]

Jul 27, 2020 17:45:36 GMT -5 CCL said:

So why do they bother sending anything? Why not send an empty envelope? Do you suppose they could be some kind of toxic or poisonous plant seeds or something? Weird!

The USDA claims they are often an invasive species. 

I don't know why they send seeds and not just empty envelopes. There have been reports of people getting small cell phone parts as well. 

It's very weird. I wish I had saved the packages. 

[Deleted]

Jul 27, 2020 15:50:49 GMT -5 @donethat said:

I saw the news story, but you're the first person I "know" who actually got them.  Super weird but I would not be able to resist planting them (in a pot, of course) to see what happened.

The USDA folks I talked to were very strong in their request I not plant them nor dispose of them in the trash. I was asked to hold them until I hear from the smuggling group and then I can either drop them off, mail them, or perhaps burn them.

Maybe they send over some of that kudzu vine's seeds or something known to grow quickly and invade. I agree it's just weird.

These are the ones I received. Two envelopes but identical address, etc... if I remember correctly. 

[CCL]

Someone tried to send me some $100 auto parts from Amazon a while back. It was kinda strange, too. I got an email addressed from Amazon thanking me for my order. I'm not stupid enough to respond to an email, so I called Amazon directly. They said it was paid-for and ready to ship to my address. I told them it wasn't me and I didn't want it. They changed my password, etc and put a fraud alert on my account. They also closed my credit card and issued a new one, even though the item wasn't charged to my account. It was all very weird, but after talking to Amazon they took care of it and I never heard about it again.

[happyhoix]

Weird.

I like to play at gardening and even with my amateur status would not plant something in my yard without knowing what it is. Already losing my war against the known enemies (grapevine, blackberries and honey suckle ) don’t need any new overpowering vegetation.

Maybe they think Americans would eat them or grind them up and snort them.

[teen persuasion]

DH heard about the seeds from a plant ID group board he's on - some of them had received the seeds and were confused, so they were putting out the word to watch out.

Hadn't heard the scam angle, that's creative...

[bobosensei]

Amazon reviews are complete crap now.  My boyfriend has been offered tons of free product to either take down bad reviews or to post 5 star ones.  He said it is only ever chinese companies that ask him to do this.  But he always orders what is the cheapest whereas if it looks like a chinese company to me I intentionally will find another seller because I don't trust their reviews.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Jul 28, 2020 7:09:36 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Weird.

I like to play at gardening and even with my amateur status would not plant something in my yard without knowing what it is. Already losing my war against the known enemies (grapevine, blackberries and honey suckle ) don’t need any new overpowering vegetation.

Maybe they think Americans would eat them or grind them up and snort them.

I'm guessing it's like when thieves who get your bank information put through a $10 transaction.   You aren't likely to notice a $10 transaction at least not if you aren't a member of YM.   So the $10 clears and indicates the card is active.  That is when they try to push through the big stuff.

I imagine if the goal is to use your home address for various purposes they want to know it's an actual home address that somebody lives at.  Then if anyone tries to screen them the address comes up as legitimate.   

A package of seeds will have you go WTF? and probably throw them away if the alert wasn't already out about scams.  A butt load of expensive stuff right off the bat. . you're going to be at the post office wanting an explanation.