Why a Singapore couple was sent more than 100 parcels they never ordered

SINGAPORE: Seeing a parcel at your doorstep after coming home from a long day at work is usually a pleasant surprise – but not for Mr Terrence Chong.

For two and a half months this year, the 46-year-old and his wife were plagued by daily deliveries of empty if not wrongly labelled packages that they never ordered to begin with.

Initially Mr Chong, who works in a private education institution, thought the parcels were being sent to the wrong address.

They had just moved in a few weeks earlier, so they checked with the previous owners, who said they never received any such strange deliveries. No packages arrived when the flat was being renovated, either.

The packages – mostly from e-commerce platforms like Shopee and Lazada – kept coming, and in greater frequency after the first month or so.

On better days, three or four parcels arrive; "but mostly it's seven or eight", said Mr Chong, sighing. “Sometimes, in the morning, I keep a few parcels; then in the afternoon, again, there are a few more."

He said they've received more than 100 of these packages in total.

Despite being labelled as a ceiling fan, Coach wallet or projector among others, the parcels were mostly too small and flat to contain such items.

CNA contacted Shopee after speaking with Mr Chong. The platform reached out to him in mid-November, to say that they'd identified sellers and buyers who placed orders to his address, and banned all the accounts.

After that conversation, the parcels stopped arriving. 

Mr Chong suspects he was a victim of what's called brushing or review brushing.

WHAT IS BRUSHING?

It's a scam where low-value items or empty packages are sent to an address, and fake reviews of the product are written using the addressee's name, according to Associate Professor Huong Ha, head of the business programme at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS).

“Sellers want to make their products appear more popular or have higher ratings, by writing fake reviews using real customers’ names and addresses,” she said.

Inflating the number of products sold can also make a seller more visible on e-commerce platforms, which often rely on algorithms that focus on products with positive reviews.

Chairman of the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS) Bryan Tan said that "where appropriate", the body will engage e-commerce platforms to address issues of fake reviews. He advised customers receiving unsolicited packages to contact the platform in question.

The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) meanwhile said it has not received any complaints related to brushing.

The regulator can investigate errant businesses and seek court orders to compel them to stop engaging in unfair trade practices – but brushing scams may not amount to these unfair practices under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act, it said.

“To protect themselves, consumers are advised to exercise caution when relying on online reviews to make their purchasing decisions,” CCCS said.

It urged consumers to take a deeper look at reviews; be wary of overly positive or negative ones as well as those posted under similar names or using similar language; and to check multiple websites or platforms if possible.

Warning of the effects of brushing, Assoc Prof Ha said it could lead to reduced trust in online platforms and undermine the integrity of the online ecosystem, leading to poor experiences for both buyers and genuine sellers.

She agreed with Mr Chong’s conclusion that he was likely a victim of a brushing scam.

The sheer number of parcels he received suggests it's not a logistical error, said Assoc Prof Ha. Neither could it be a different scam variant where sellers ask for compensation when an empty parcel is returned to them: Mr Chong has not been asked to repay anyone, and he didn't open most of the packages anyway.

"IT DOESN'T FEEL GOOD"

The few parcels that Mr Chong opened were upon the advice of the police, whom they contacted in October.

“Some of them had nothing, some had tissue - literally a piece of tissue,” he said. Another package felt like it contained some sort of sponge.

Before lodging a police report, the couple reached out to Shopee as their first port of call, due to most of the parcels carrying the company's logo. 

The online shopping platform asked them to check if their accounts were used to place any orders, and asked them to change their passwords.

“But we still kept on receiving parcels,” said Mr Chong.

The police then asked the couple if they had lost any money. When it was clear they hadn't, Mr Chong was asked to settle the matter with Shopee.

He showed CNA screenshots of further conversations with Shopee, where the platform said they did not find irregular behaviour that would pose harm to his wife’s account, and that they had proceeded with “necessary stern actions” relating to his case.

In response to CNA's queries, Shopee said: “We have zero tolerance for any attempts to manipulate our platform system or our shoppers.

“We are in touch with the user and have informed them of the outcome of our investigation, which includes permanently banning the user and seller accounts involved.”

Mr Chong also tried to investigate on his own, by searching Shopee using the exact descriptions printed on the parcels' labels to see if he could identify the sellers that might have sent him the packages.

Some of the shops he suspects have sent him items are still operating on the platform, but he cannot be 100 per cent sure as Shopee declined to reveal which accounts they banned.

“I'm not looking for compensation, all I need is ... I don't want to receive these (parcels) anymore,” said Mr Chong.

“Even though (it’s) no harm, every day, looking at the doorstep piling up with all these ... the fact that someone is using your address to do something, illegal or not, psychologically it doesn't feel good.”

The parcels have stopped - for now - and Shopee has told him to contact them if more start arriving again.

Assoc Prof Ha said Mr Chong’s address could have been obtained through a data breach or leak; or it was a seller he previously purchased from going on to use his address for brushing.

Shopee said it has further assured Mr Chong and his wife that their personal information was safe and had not been illegally accessed through the platform.

It also encouraged users to be vigilant and report unsolicited parcels to its customer service team.

WHAT ARE PLATFORMS DOING ABOUT THIS?

Other online shopping sites like Lazada and Amazon told CNA that they work to create a safe environment for their customers.

Lazada said it has a zero-tolerance approach towards fraudulent behaviour.

“Lazada may issue non-compliance points and subsequent enforcements, such as directly deactivating the seller account, implementing account restrictions or suspension and more, depending on the severity of the seller’s non-complying actions,” the firm said.

It added that it invests heavily in advanced technology to protect buyers, brands and sellers from fraud, scams and abuse.

Amazon said its customers’ trust, privacy and security were their “highest priorities”.

When policies are violated, the company will take action including by withholding payment, suspending selling and reporting bad actors to law enforcement.

It also said it proactively stops fake reviews on its platform.

“We have teams dedicated to uncovering and investigating fake review brokers," said Amazon. "Our expert investigators, lawyers, analysts and other specialists track down brokers, piece together evidence about how they operate, and then we take legal actions against them."