'Brushing' mail scam WARNING

tightGit639

I received a card from Royal Mail the other day to say that I had to pay customs charges on a package from China. Not that unusual for me, I order stuff via Ebay and Amazon quite frequently and often from China with no problems. But had no idea what the package was. Checked my accounts in case I was getting a bit doollaly, but nothing came up. So, in the end, forked out the 11 quid and received the package a couple of days later.

When I opened it I found a cheap piece of tat (probably worth 2p) with no information of where it came from. Turns out this is a 'brushing' package. I've since found out it's an illicit way for sellers to get reviews for their products (usually in China). 

You may have seen reports of seeds mysteriously appearing in peoples letterboxes. 

They obviously hacked my address info from somewhere and my suspicions rested on AliExpress as I had recently registered with them 10 days before, luckily I didn't buy anything. I deactivated my account immediately and changed my passwords for eBay and Amazon.

From my own research there's no evidence that banking or credit card details have been hacked but it pays to check.

I've also sent a Scam Mail report to Royal Mail. The BBC news website has more info, type "brushing scam" in the search box

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Usual rules, I f I have not ordered anything, then I do not repsond. This has gone on for years with missed parcel cards, and ring a premium phone number.

JJ_Egan

Been a few of those posted this year in varying types .

Spank

It's the first one that I have heard of where the receiver has to pay charges