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SEDALIA – A scam is making its way through central Missouri, leaving unwanted packages in mailboxes.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) calls it “brushing” when salespeople ship packages to someone’s business or home that has never been ordered. The seller then uses this transaction to write a positive but made-up review.
“The ultimate motivation is to get a good product review on Amazon and the more positive reviews you get, the more likely you are to get sales of that product,” said Bill Matthews, consumer safety expert. by BBB.
One of these packages arrived at Trace Alberswerth in Sedalia with their address but an unknown name.
“We get mail from our neighbors all the time, they got our mail so it’s kinda tasteless and I’ve been to all my neighboring businesses but they can’t tell me anything either,” he said. declared.
Alberswerth said he tried to find the owner and posted to a community Facebook group, but had no luck.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) says it is illegal for businesses to send unsolicited mail to doorsteps and write fraudulent notices on behalf of the recipient. This means that the recipient is authorized to keep the package.
In a public service announcement, US Postal Inspector Andrea Avery said, “Whatever you do, don’t pay for it and don’t get ripped off, if the sender follows up with a phone call. By law, unsolicited merchandise belongs to you. “
The BBB warns that recipients may have received the delivery because the sender has their personal information such as name, address or phone number. The organization recommends changing account passwords regularly as the safest way to prevent sharing of personal information.
When shopping online this holiday season, the BBB says it’s also important to watch out for fake reviews. They are often very general with no specific likes or dislikes of the product, have poor grammar, use the same adjectives, and many are posted on the same day or a few days apart. Retailers like Amazon verify indicator reviews are verified as coming from an actual customer and allow buyers to report potential scams.
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