Brushing scams explained

 

Have you ever heard of the scam called brushing? It’s a seemingly harmless scheme that doesn’t inflict direct monetary harm on its victims. Nevertheless, brushing has underlying, more sinister applications that make further examinations necessary.

 

 

What is brushing

Brushing is when a consumer is sent a package of cheap products from a marketplace without having ordered it first. It may seem like a misdirected delivery, a gift from someone, or a harmless prank. After all, who is hurt by receiving a random box of hair ties, cartoon stickers, coasters, or pencils?

 

However, the aim is not for that particular consumer to have those particular items. Rather, the point of brushing is for a purchase to go through and a tracked delivery to arrive, supplying the perpetrator with a coveted "verified purchase" badge they can later use for a glowing review on the marketplace.

 

As these badges are usually tied to a successful delivery and not to an exact purchase, perpetrators (quite often the retailers themselves) are able to use them for any products they offer on their site. This makes brushing a type of fake review scam, often executed by merchants needing verified reviews and the subsequent higher product rankings to boost their sales.

 

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How brushing works

Brushing scammers tend to follow a few well-practiced steps to pull off a successful scam.

 

1. Scammers obtain addresses from a known data leak or legitimate public sources.

 

2. Then the perpetrators create fake shopper accounts on their chosen marketplaces. They may or may not use the real names of consumers whose addresses they obtained.

 

3. The scammers place orders from the fake accounts and send them to the legitimate addresses via tracked delivery services to obtain verified purchase badges.

 

4. Finally, using the verified purchase badges, the perpetrators place glowing five-star reviews for their own products on the chosen marketplace.

 

As you can see, monetary harm is not inflicted on the victims, as the perpetrators themselves are the ones who spend money on this scam. In addition, consumers may experience mild bafflement upon receiving the random products, but as these tend to be cheap and unthreatening, most consumers tend to brush the issue off as a simple mistake and move on with their lives.

 

However, there are two underlying issues we need to take into consideration.

 

 

Illustration of a delivery person handing a package to a customer

 

 

First of all, obtaining and using a consumer’s private address is a very problematic data breach in itself and can cause further issues of security.

 

And furthermore, the fake reviews arising from brushing can dupe other unsuspecting consumers into trusting and buying products that don’t deserve their trust. This way, brushing doesn’t only affect the people receiving the products but also many others who believe the verified purchase badge and the glowing product review.

 

 

What to do when targeted by brushing

Consumers targeted by a brushing scam shouldn’t just ignore the package and carry on with their day. In fact, it’s important to take a few steps to learn more about the issue and prevent it from happening again.

 

• First and foremost, investigate if the package is not meant for you after all. Could it be a gift, or something ordered by a family member in your name?

 

• If the answer to the previous question is a definite no, try to find out how the sender could have gotten your address. Was it featured in a recent data leak?

 

• Check your account with the corresponding marketplace, and also your bank statements. Was a purchase made in your name? Set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) on all of your accounts to ensure that no money can leave your bank without your explicit authorization. If applicable, do so on your accounts with online marketplaces as well.

 

• Make sure never to scan QR codes, nor visit any url-s featured on the package. They could very well lead you to phishing websites.

 

• Contact the marketplace and let them know about the package. They will most likely have a policy against brushing and fake reviews in place, and will probably be able to connect your case with other reported cases. Catching the perpetrators is in their best interest, as fake reviews harm the credibility of the entire marketplace.

 

 

Conclusion

While not the most devastating of scams, at least in the financial sense, brushing has negative implications for consumers’ data security and their trust in any given marketplace.

 

Contact us if you’re worried about brushing, fake reviews, or any other scams that may harm your business!