There’s been a strange new trend taking over TikTok: people receiving items they did not order.
In December of last year, a woman shared that she had received over 40 packages from Amazon that she did not order. Then, in April, another woman went viral after alleging that someone repeatedly sent her orders of Domino’s pizza and cheesy bread. Later that month, a further user caused waves of discussion when she revealed that she had been delivered over 125 bottles of Powerade and Gatorade via DoorDash—none of which she had ordered.
Now, the trend continues with a new video from TikTok user Abbey (@abbeyshock). In a clip with over 1.3 million views, Abbey claims that she received 41 packages from Amazon. She didn’t order any of them.
“It’s getting out of hand,” she says in the video. “I think it’s mail fraud if I keep them, and I’ve been hung up on twice while on the phone with Amazon.”
@abbeyshock Liz Li please stop !!!! @Amazon ♬ original sound – abbeyshock
In the comments section, several users alleged that they had experienced something similar.
“This happened to me 2 years ago & Amazon told me to keep them,” recalled a user. “I opened them & it was a bunch of baby boy clothes. I donated them then…”
“I had a full size mattress delivered to me. I called Amazon twice. They finally said to keep it. Sold it for $800,” shared a second.
“I kept getting huge box’s of knitted queen size blankets,” alleged a third. “like every few weeks a box of five of them would show up from Amazon.”
Abbey noted in a comment that she had not been charged for any of these items. Later, she posted a video revealing that Amazon had instructed her to keep the packages.
@abbeyshock Replying to @Ashep ♬ original sound – abbeyshock
Most of the items are clothing or accessories such as makeup cases and purses.
Some commenters speculated as to how something like this might happen, with a few offering their own personal stories about odd deliveries.
“Looks like someone was trying to start a small business and didn’t check the address for shipping,” wrote a user.
“Our packages for my sons 1st Christmas some how got send to wrong address(same town similar name),” recounted a commenter. “Luckily the lady called us from a note I left in her mailbox! I told her if she left it on her porch I’d go get them first thing in the morning.”
A few users put forth the idea that Abbey received these items as part of a “brushing” scheme.
As explained by the United States Postal Inspection Service, “A person receives packages or parcels containing various sorts of items which were not ordered or requested by the recipient…The intention is to give the impression that the recipient is a verified buyer who has written positive online reviews of the merchandise, meaning: they write a fake review in your name.”
“These fake reviews help to fraudulently boost or inflate the products’ ratings and sales numbers, which they hope results in an increase of actual sales in the long-run,” the site’s article continues. “Since the merchandise is usually cheap and low-cost to ship, the scammers perceive this as a profitable pay-off.”
Amazon itself has a form for reporting such scams.
No matter how she got them, Abbey says she won’t be keeping the items. In a comment, she revealed that she plans on donating the items to charity.
The Daily Dot reached out to Amazon via email and Abbey via TikTok comment.
