How to shop for preps online without getting scammed

Jon StokesStaff - December 18, 2020

As an editor at The Prepared, I’ve spent a lot of time over the past two years professionally shopping for gear on the internet. When we put together
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I have been a victim of “brushing”. One day my wife just randomly received a package for a multi color night light in the shape of a moon. We did not order it, and asked all of our family members if they ordered it and none of them did. I called Amazon and tried to have them back track where it came from so I could get it to the proper person who ordered it, and they couldn’t figure it out. I then asked if I could return it and get some Amazon credit, because I did not want this and had no use for it, but they wouldn’t give me a refund. Ended up giving it to our niece.

A week later we got a baby hair cutting set. Again, called Amazon and they wouldn’t do anything about it. 

Another week later we got a no contact laser thermometer (actually something nice for checking our temperature during covid), but still we did not order it. I looked up why this might be happening and learned about Brushing. I learned that they send us the product so they can get a verified purchase label on the 5 star review that they post on their own product. I called Amazon three times letting them know about this issue, that it was hurting their marketplace with these fake reviews, that I did not like being the victim of identity theft, and that I would do everything that I could to work with them and have it stop. All three employees did not care at all, and nothing was done.

Luckily the spam packages stopped coming. Sure some may think, oh free packages, this is great! But I hated the feeling that my name and address was being used to prop up someone’s crappy product. It bothered me that Amazon did not care at all, that they make so much money that these little scams and abuses do so little to the massive truckloads of cash they bring in every minute.

So be aware if you buy a moon nightlight, baby hair cutting set, or laser temperature thermometer, that I did not rate it 5 stars, and someone abused my information to get that 5 stars on that product review page.