(CNN) – Most people who buy things online just have to worry that their deliveries will be delayed or never arrive. But some people face a completely different problem: buying weird things like clippers, facial creams, and sunglasses that they didn’t order at all.
The Federal Trade Commission and cyber specialists have warned consumers about these supplies, which could be part of something known as a “cleaning” scam.
Here’s how these scams work: Third-party sellers on Amazon, eBay, and other online marketplaces pay people to write fake, positive reviews about their products, or do it themselves. In order to post the reviews, these so-called “cleaners” must trick the site into making it look like a legitimate transaction has taken place. So they use a fake account to place gift orders and direct it to any person whose name and address they find online. Rather than actually emailing the item they want to review, the cleaners send a cheap, often lightweight item that costs less to ship.
Sending an item (even the wrong one) creates a tracking number and when the package is delivered, cleaners can write a verified review. If you are on the receiving end, you will usually not be charged for the purchase and your real account will not be hacked, but you will remain in the dark as to who is sending the mystery packages repeatedly. In many cases there is no return address. You don’t have to worry that something bad has happened to you or will happen to you if you get a package that might be part of a cleaning scam, experts say. But we should all be concerned about the scams affecting reviews we rely on when buying products.
Cleaning scams reportedly got off the ground on ecommerce sites in China about five years ago. They hit the headlines again last summer when all 50 states warned of mysterious, unsolicited packages of seeds being sent by mail to people across the country.
But it is not just seeds. Unsuspecting recipients have also found boxes of goods ranging from dog poo scoops to power cords to soap dispensers at their doorstep.
Jen Blinn of Thousand Oaks, California, told CNN Business that she has been receiving random parcels since June, including most recently a briefcase, backpack, hair straightener, and coffee cup warmer.
“Every two weeks … I get a different package in the mail of random things I never ordered,” she said. Blinn informed Amazon of the problem, but a customer service representative “didn’t really understand what I was saying. She clearly didn’t know about it, ”she said. The agent checked Blinn’s account and found nothing wrong with it.
It is not illegal to send customers disordered goods. But the [Federal Trade Commission] has long been pursuing marketers using fake reviews, ”said David Vladeck, former director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection and a law professor at Georgetown University.
Amazon says its policy prohibits sellers from sending unsolicited goods to customers and that sellers can be removed from the site to do so.
“Third-party sellers are not allowed to send unsolicited packages to customers and we are taking action against those who violate our policies, including withholding payments, suspending or withdrawing sales rights, or cooperating with law enforcement officials,” an Amazon spokesperson said in an email. Amazon does not want to say how much cleaning fraud was found on the site or how many sellers were removed because of these scams.
An eBay spokesperson said in an email that brushing programs “aren’t common” on the site. It is against eBay’s policy to send unsolicited goods to customers or falsify reviews and may result in eBay restricting sellers’ accounts or suspending them from the site.
Experts also say it is difficult to quantify the frequency of such scams, as it can be difficult for businesses to know if reviews are fake, and scams often go unreported by consumers.
The fact that you received a package that you did not order is usually harmless to you. The harm is for people who rely on reviews when deciding on a purchase, said Chris McCabe, a former Amazon policy enforcement investigator charged with stopping scams and fraud. He is now an advisor to sellers on the site.
“The real losers here are the consumers who may believe a lot of these fake positive reviews or this artificial review padding because they see maybe 100 positive reviews, and then maybe only 60 or 70 are legitimate,” he said.
According to a 2017 report from Northwestern University’s Spiegel Research Center, the odds of a consumer buying a product with five ratings are 270% higher than the odds of buying a product without zero ratings.
Some fake reviews are also driven by Facebook groups where sellers offer buyers money when they write positive product reviews, McCabe said. Amazon and Facebook should work together to tackle these groups, he said.
An Amazon spokesperson said the company analyzes more than 10 million reviews every week to prevent fake reviews from being published and provides details of its investigations to social media companies “so they can prevent these bad actors from taking advantage of their platforms. “
A Facebook spokesperson said in an email that when the company is told about groups that may encourage fake reviews, it will review and remove them if they violate the policy.
Unwanted sheets and Shiatsu massagers
For consumers, the unexpected deliveries can be shocking. The packages Ashanté Nicole never ordered arrived at her home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2019.
iPhone and portable car chargers. An iPad sleeve. A heated shiatsu massage. A nail cleaning brush and a hair dryer. Sheets. A mattress cover. A floppy fishing toy.
They had no return addresses, so Nicole wasn’t sure who was sending the packages. She reached out to Amazon to try and stop them from coming, but they still get to her door.
“It was just a bit concerning because I don’t know who has my information,” she said. ‘I don’t know what they’re going to send me. Like they can send something illegal and then I’m in trouble because I didn’t know who that person was or what they sent me. “
If you receive goods that you did not order, it could mean that scammers have created an account in your name or taken over your account, a spokesperson for the FTC said in an email. Scammers may even have created new accounts with different names associated with your address, allowing them to post a lot of seemingly real reviews.
“We recommend that you keep an eye on your online store accounts. If you notice any activity that is not yours, report it to the site right away and consider changing your password for that site, ”said the spokesperson.
Nicole thinks she has done everything she can to warn Amazon every time unsolicited packages from the store arrive at her door.
“There is literally nothing I can do except tell Amazon every time it happens. And that hasn’t really done much, ”she said.
Amazon declined to comment directly on Nicole and Blinn’s accounts, but said that if a customer receives a package that is unsolicited, they should contact Amazon’s customer service team.
Nicole said she hopes Amazon will do more to stop brushing and ban sellers participating in the scam.
“I just think they should be a little more concerned about closing those stores and keeping those sellers from using the platform.”
The-CNN-Wire
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