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  Geebo 9:00 am on February 4, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Amazon ( 108 ), brushing scam ( 24 ), face masks ( 2 ), PPE, Scams ( 1,388 )   

  New brushing scam sends out face masks 

  

  It was only a couple of weeks ago when we talked about the last brushing scam. That scam had people receiving a bluish-white powder in the mail.

  For those of you who may not know, a brushing scam is when you get sent packages to your home of things you didn’t order. Usually, these packages come from Amazon and contain low-cost items. This is done so third-party vendors that sell through Amazon can give themselves good online reviews in your name, and the review shows up on Amazon as a verified purchase giving the phony review more legitimacy. In turn, this leads to these products being more recommended by Amazon.

  The most recent brushing scam has consumers receiving a delivery of face masks. They’re said to be arriving in Amazon packages but being shipped from China. If you receive one of these packages, it’s recommended that you throw the masks out. You may also want to check your Amazon account to make sure your account has not been compromised. Even if it hasn’t been compromised, it is highly recommended that you change your Amazon password. If you were to leave your password unchanged, it could lead to items being purchased with your payment information. It could also lead to potential identity theft.

  If you shop at different online retailers, you should have a different password for each retailer. A password manager is recommended to assist you with that. Also, you should keep an eye on your credit as brushing scammers could potentially have your financial information.

  If any of your debit or credit cards have been used in this scam you’ll want to cancel them and have new ones issued. The only consolation to the victims of this scam is that they can legally keep the items sent to them, however, they’re usually not the type of items you’d normally want to keep.

   

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  Geebo 8:00 am on August 6, 2020 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: brushing scam ( 24 ), covid-19 ( 48 ), kentucky ( 6 ), PPE, Scams ( 1,388 )   

  Brushing scam is sending out PPE 

  

  Brushing scams have been grabbing a lot of headlines lately due to the seeds sent to Americans from overseas. Again, if you’re unfamiliar with brushing scams, it’s when scammers send products to people unsolicited. The scammers do this to use you as a verified purchase to post fake reviews to their product page on platforms like Amazon. Often, these scammers have a stake in the product being sold. Brushing scams tend to be perpetrated by overseas scammers.

  As we mentioned, the most infamous brushing scam recently involved an overseas company sending an untold number of seed packages to people all over the country. Now, the Attorney General of Kentucky and the U.S. Attorney’s office is warning of a new brushing scam that involves personal protection equipment, or as it’s better known, PPE. These are the masks, gloves, and face shields used to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Many residents of the Bluegrass State have said that they’ve received unsolicited packages of PPE from companies with overseas addresses. When a scam like this hits one state, it’s usually not long before it starts hitting others. It is recommended that if you receive one of these packages to not use any of the PPE contained inside as the quality of the items can not be verified.

  While you are within your legal rights to keep anything that you didn’t actually order there are pitfalls to being involved in a brushing scam. The scammers could have gotten your information from a previous data breach somewhere online. That means that at least one of your online accounts may have been compromised but if you use the same password for multiple accounts, more could be compromised. It’s recommended that if you’ve been sent items from a brushing scam that you change the passwords on your online accounts and you should use different passwords for each account. A password manager is recommended to assist you with that. Also, you should keep an eye on your credit as brushing scammers could potentially have your financial information as well. You should also check your accounts on retailers like Amazon to make sure that purchases or reviews have not been made in your name.