Woman Receives 4 Bogus Packages In A Week, Shopee Investigating
Free things might sound great to most people. But when we get free unwanted items almost every other day, it becomes a nuisance.
Recently a Singaporean woman, who wishes to be known only as Jen, has been receiving bogus Shopee packages she did not order. And this was not the first time.
Image courtesy of Jen
She told MS News she started receiving these packages last October.
Feeling perplexed and concerned about her personal information being leaked, she contacted Shopee about the issue.
Shopee’s investigations are ongoing, but they have since suspended seller accounts they believe are related to the incidents.
Woman repeatedly receives Shopee packages since Oct 2021
Speaking with MS News, Jen said she started receiving numerous Shopee packages she did not order in Oct 2021. These packages were addressed to her.
Some items she received were stickers, a plastic whistle, and tissue paper. She then reached out to Shopee and voiced concerns about her personal information being leaked to their platform’s sellers.
Even though she was assured that the sellers would be dealt with, Jen said her questions regarding data leak concerns went unanswered.
Thinking Shopee would eventually resolve the matter, she did not continue to pursue the case.
However, two weeks ago, Jen began receiving bogus Shopee parcels again.
Image courtesy of Jen
This time, they contained stacks of instruction manuals and miscellaneous metal pieces. Some of the parcels even came in empty boxes.
Image courtesy of Jen
Feeling disturbed, Jen contacted Shopee right away. This time, she demanded answers from the company on how these sellers could access her personal information when she did not place any orders.
Packages make her feel unsafe
Unfortunately, Jen said she was disappointed by Shopee’s replies, which told her that necessary actions had been taken against the seller.
Image courtesy of Jen
While getting unsolicited packages might seem innocuous, Jen said she felt harassed by these packages arriving at her doorstep or letterbox almost every day.
In the last seven days, she had received four parcels.
She was also worried about the package contents, fearing that “sinister things” could be sent to her home.
As she and her family felt unsafe, Jen was also concerned that her privacy as a customer was not adequately protected and hoped for more accountability from Shopee.
E-commerce ‘brushing’ scam
After doing some research on her own, she came across this term called brushing, a method for sellers to scam e-commerce platforms into boosting their ratings.
According to Yahoo News Singapore, sellers would send people products they haven’t bought to seem more popular, and to improve their rankings.
These sellers often obtain personal details through publicly available avenues or a data leak from a hacked provider.
Jen believes she may be caught up in a ‘brushing’ scam and wants Shopee to put a stop to it.
Shopee investigating
In response to MS News’ queries, a Shopee spokesperson said the issue is currently under investigation.
Shopee has suspended the user accounts they believe have been attempting to manipulate the search rankings, violating their terms of service.
The e-commerce platform reiterated that they have zero tolerance for this behaviour. They are currently in direct contact with Jen on the matter.
Shopee also reiterated that they are committed to providing everyone with a safe, reliable, and enjoyable shopping experience.
The platform has safeguards to prevent such abusive behaviour, and such incidents are rare.
Nonetheless, they encourage customers who have received unsolicited parcels from Shopee to report them to their customer service.
Hope Shopee gets to the bottom of matter
While receiving packages you didn’t order might seem harmless at first, getting them regularly raises alarm bells as your personal information could be in the hands of unscrupulous sellers.
Hopefully, Shopee will get to the bottom of the matter and grant Jen peace of mind about the ongoing situation.
Have you encountered something similar before? What did you do about it? Let us know in the comments below.
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Featured image courtesy of Jen.
