Greg's Corner

Brushing scam not as harmless as it seems

By Greg Collier

The brushing scam is one of the more confusing scams if you’re not in the know. For clarification, the brushing scam is when third-party Amazon retailers send you a bunch of their products. You didn’t pay for it, but you didn’t order it either. The vendors do this so they can say you’re a verified purchaser and use your name to give themselves a five-star review. Legally, you can keep the stuff they send you, even though it’s usually low-quality items that you probably have no need for. So what’s the harm?

According to the Better Business Bureau, it means that the scammers have a lot of your personal information. Enough of it in fact that they can open an Amazon account in your name even if you already have one. While you may not be losing money while getting free stuff delivered to your door, it does mean that your identity and privacy have been compromised.

If you start receiving these unsolicited items from Amazon, the first thing you should do is make sure that your account isn’t being charged for the items you’re receiving. Just as a precaution, you should change your Amazon password to something that’s not easily guessable, like your birthdate or one of your kids’ names. Then you should contact Amazon to let them know that a vendor is brushing, as this is forbidden under Amazon’s terms of service. Go to Amazon’s website to find their customer service info. Don’t do a web search for their phone number, as that can lead you to a phony customer service department who is also looking to scam you.