Imagine packages piling up on your doorstep, day after day, addressed to your house but to someone you’ve never even heard of. That’s the strange reality a Pennsylvania family has been facing since mid-May, when dozens of unwanted Amazon packages started showing up at their Lancaster County home.
Stephanie Aponte’s kitchen table is now cluttered with this mysterious haul. The address on the packages is correct, yet they are addressed to a woman named Therese, a complete stranger to Aponte. “It was addressed to us but not to anyone who lived here,” Aponte shared, highlighting the unsettling nature of the situation.
The deliveries kept coming, intensifying over the Memorial Day weekend to the point where she couldn’t even open her front door due to the sheer volume. It’s a bewildering and frustrating experience, prompting Aponte to say, “At the end of the day, it just needs to end ‘cause somewhere, something is not right.”
The contents of these unexpected deliveries haven’t been uniform; instead, an array of items has arrived. The context mentions electronics, a smartwatch, a smart camera detector, and even a motherboard hookup among the interesting finds. Aponte estimates the total value of these unsolicited goods is at least $1,000, likely far more, though she hasn’t found anything suspicious on a credit card tied to her name.
This peculiar scenario is often linked to something known as a brushing scam. These scams typically involve sending products to individuals who didn’t order them. The purpose is usually for scammers or even legitimate companies to then post fake glowing reviews under the recipient’s name, making the product appear more popular and boosting sales. While this is the suspected cause, no reviews have reportedly been found posted under Aponte’s name for these particular products yet.
The legal standing in such cases is quite clear: according to Amazon, Aponte and her family are legally allowed to keep all the items. However, she has expressed a strong reluctance to do so. She worries about potential issues down the line, fearing an unpleasant surprise like, “‘You have thousands of dollars in charges,’ and here I have all of this – what I would call – nonsense,” she explained.
Amazon has stated that it is working to investigate and determine the source of these mysterious and unwanted orders, offering a glimmer of hope that the deluge might eventually cease. It’s a reminder of the strange ways scams can manifest, turning what might seem like free gifts into a source of significant stress and confusion.
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