People across the country are finding mysterious white mailing envelopes in their mailboxes and on their porches, often from a sender who does not appear to exist and an address that may not be real either, according to a NewsChannel 5 report from Jennifer Kraus.
Kraus reported that many of the envelopes are empty, while others contain odd, cheap items such as hair ties, hair clips, dog toys, baseballs, broken perfume bottles, or small household gadgets. The deliveries may seem harmless at first, but the Better Business Bureau is warning that they are likely part of a brushing scam, a scheme that uses real people’s names and addresses to create fake verified reviews online.
The strange part is that the recipient usually did not order anything. The concerning part is that someone already has enough personal information to send the package in the first place.
White Envelopes Keep Showing Up
In Kraus’ report, Candi Kready showed NewsChannel 5 a collection of white envelopes that had started arriving about a week earlier.
“So these are the first five packages,” Kready said as she showed the envelopes, explaining that they sometimes arrived several at a time.
When Kraus asked if she had ordered any of them, Kready said she had not ordered anything. One envelope had nothing inside at all, while another appeared to contain only packing material or a plastic bag.
“There’s nothing in there. It’s just empty,” Kready told Kraus.
At first, Kready did not know what to make of it. These days, an unexpected delivery is not always alarming because so many people order online, share household accounts, or forget about small purchases. But when packages keep coming and no one in the home ordered them, the confusion starts to feel less random.
Kraus said Kready began to realize she was not alone after seeing other people on TikTok describing almost the exact same thing.
A Sender Who Does Not Seem To Exist
According to Kraus, NewsChannel 5 found that the mysterious envelopes were tied to an address in New York that does not exist. The supposed sender was listed as “Davve Garzaz,” spelled with two V’s in the first name, and Kraus reported that this person does not appear to exist either.
That detail makes the envelopes even more suspicious, because it suggests the package information is not simply a mistake from a confused retailer or a mislabeled shipment.
Robyn Householder, head of the Middle Tennessee Better Business Bureau, told Kraus that the pattern fits what is known as a brushing scam.
“We call it a brushing scam,” Householder said.
The name may sound odd, but the idea is simple: someone sends a package to a real person at a real address so that an online seller can make it look like a real transaction happened. Once that package is marked as delivered, the recipient can be treated as a verified buyer on platforms such as Amazon, Walmart, or eBay.
From there, the sender can post a fake positive review using that person’s name or account information, Kraus explained.
It is a quiet kind of scam because the victim may not lose money directly from the envelope itself. But that does not mean nothing happened.
How A Brushing Scam Works
Householder told Kraus that the internet is useful, but it also gives scammers access to an enormous amount of personal information.
“The internet is a really wonderful tool, but it’s also a very frightening tool because it does give scammers so much information about us,” Householder said.
In a brushing scam, the goal is usually not to send the recipient something valuable. The goal is to create the appearance of a sale, then use that transaction to post fake reviews and boost the seller’s product rankings.
Kraus reported that the sender is often an international third-party seller. If the seller can attach a fake review to a verified delivery, the product may appear more popular, more trusted, or more visible on major e-commerce sites.
That can translate into real sales from actual customers who believe the ratings are legitimate.
This is why an empty envelope still matters. Even if nothing useful is inside, the mailing itself may have completed the scammer’s first step.
The whole setup is a reminder that online reviews, while useful, are not always as clean as they look. A product with glowing ratings may be benefiting from fake activity behind the scenes, and in this case, ordinary people’s names and addresses may be used to help make that happen.
Similar To The Mystery Seeds From 2020
Kraus said the scam may sound familiar because it resembles the mysterious seed packages that many people received in the mail in 2020.
In those cases, people across the country reported receiving unsolicited packages of seeds, often from overseas sellers. Officials warned people not to plant them, partly because the contents were unknown and partly because the mailings appeared to be tied to the same kind of fake-review scheme.
This time, Kraus reported, many of the packages are empty white envelopes. In other cases, people have received small items that seem random and inexpensive.
Householder herself told Kraus she received 12 baseballs.
Kraus said one NewsChannel 5 employee’s father received plastic dog toys, while Kraus received a metal gadget that turned out to be a corn peeler.
That mix of empty packages and strange low-cost items may make the situation feel almost silly, but the BBB’s warning is more serious. The delivery may mean that a recipient’s personal information has been compromised.
What The BBB Says To Do
Householder told Kraus that anyone who receives one of these unexplained envelopes should treat it as a call to action.
“The other thing, it’s an immediate call to action for you to check your credit rating, change your passwords, see if there’s any unusual activity,” Householder said.
She also advised people to set up banking alerts for transactions on credit cards if they are not already using them.
That does not mean every person who gets an envelope is facing identity theft in the most severe sense, but it does mean someone has enough information to use their name and address in a scheme. It is worth checking whether any unfamiliar accounts, purchases, or reviews are connected to your information.
Kraus reported that if the package appears to be connected to a third-party retailer, recipients should contact that retailer and ask them to remove any reviews posted under their name.
The good news, according to Kraus, is that if an actual item arrives, the recipient can keep it. The bad news is that receiving one package may lead to more.
Why The Packages May Keep Coming
Kready asked the question many people would ask after receiving package after package: when does it stop, and how can someone make it stop?
Householder told Kraus that it is not easy, because once the package is delivered, the scammer knows the name and address are valid.
“Because you accepted the package, that scammer now knows that the address and the name is legitimate, which means they’re probably going to use it more often,” Householder said.
At last check, Kraus reported, Kready had received nine packages. One contained a broken bottle of perfume, while others were empty or filled with odd material.
That is one of the more frustrating parts of this kind of scam. The recipient did nothing to start it, did not ask for the item, and may not even know which retailer or seller is behind it. Yet the person still has to deal with the aftermath, from checking accounts to trying to remove fake reviews.
It is the sort of low-level modern scam that feels small until it lands at your own door.
A Strange Envelope With A Real Warning
Kraus’ report makes clear that people should not panic over a mysterious envelope, but they also should not ignore it.
An empty white package may not look like much, especially if there is no bill, no threatening letter, and no obvious demand for money. But the BBB says the delivery is often a sign that a seller may be using someone’s personal information to game online review systems.
That matters for two reasons. It can mislead future shoppers, and it can signal that the recipient’s data is floating around somewhere it should not be.
For anyone who receives one, the practical steps are straightforward: check credit reports, change important passwords, monitor bank and credit card activity, turn on alerts, and contact any retailer connected to the package if a fake review appears under your name.
The envelope may be empty, but as Kraus and Householder explained, the warning behind it is not.
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, John developed a love for the great outdoors early on. With years of experience as a wilderness guide, he’s navigated rugged terrains and unpredictable weather patterns. John is also an avid hunter and fisherman who believes in sustainable living. His focus on practical survival skills, from building shelters to purifying water, reflects his passion for preparedness. When he’s not out in the wild, you can find him sharing his knowledge through writing, hoping to inspire others to embrace self-reliance.
