This is how kudzu started!!

I was aware this type of thing happened but I didn't know what it was called- brushing scam. Just how did they arrive at that name?

Brushing up their reputation?

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:

China is . . . a unique mixup of unbridled greed, racism, hypernationalism, utter dishonesty at every level, communist totalitarianism and state-controlled capitalism, sophistication in modern technology with privative superstitions and barbarian eating patterns.

So what's not to like?

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:
This is how kudzu started!!

Yep people down south here know about Kudzu and cussing it for years

quote:

Originally posted by ChuckFinley:
Brushing up their reputation?

Sounds right

quote:

Originally posted by ersatzknarf:
Yeah, pushy with bad manners.

For the win.

Data is forever. Sooner or later the whole page is colored in.

If China wanted to send seeds to a dozen people per US county, who have shown and interest in gardening, they could easily do it. Data is so valuable. And yet everyone freely casts it about. Imagine how easy it is for foreign governments to recruit spies and saboteurs now. Used to be they'd have to travel to the US, infiltrate. Gain trust, get to know them. Now they just friend them on FB.

^^^^
The Chinese are poisoning the minds of the next generation on social medium like Tiktok, Which they in fact own. Parents that don’t keep up with what their kids are into are oblivious to the damage being done at the grass roots level.

I have seen these going to customers for about the last four years. The item description on the package is usually “beads” or “jewelry”. I have a few customers that have gotten a dozen or so a day for weeks at a time.

Not sure what is going on, but I have heard reports of scam going on. People buy a fairly expensive piece of merchandise, get their credit card billed, and they receive a packet of seeds. How do you refute that against a company in China?

It’s scary to imagine what the actual seeds are. Look at all the invasive fish species that have since overpopulated themselves in areas of our country.

Our state has asked you to contact the MS Bureau of Plant Industry if you get any. They will send someone out to collect and "properly" destroy them. AL is doing the same, and I imagine a bunch of other states as well.

What an enormous waste of time/resources this BS will create.

Has a lab somewhere grown some of these in isolation, just to see what they actually are?

When I put my tinfoil hat on, I worry about some bio-engineered blight to attack domestic food crop production. Same thing happens when I take my my tinfoil hat off.

^^^^^
Wasn't that part of the plot line for the show "The Last Ship"?? Called it the "red rust", but it was a world-wide infestation.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Has a lab somewhere grown some of these in isolation, just to see what they actually are?

The USDA is now testing them.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: kkina,

Just ask anybody in some of the southern states about how they feel about "KUDZU"when it was introduced to help control problems with erosion. Also ask about the "nutrea" rats that imported as pets in the 1800"s.(just a couple of pairs) They got loose and have destroyed so much property/wetlands across the entire gulf coast. Be very carefull. Once the smoke gets out of the bottle it does not go back in. .................... drill sgt.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
China is a far more dangerous enemy than the Soviet Union was.
It’s a unique mixup of unbridled greed, racism, hypernationalism, utter dishonesty at every level, communist totalitarianism and state-controlled capitalism, sophistication in modern technology with privative superstitions and barbarian eating patterns.
Have I forgotten anything?

Well, there's always 'armed with thermonuclear weapons' ....

More from The Wall Street Journal. What I found particularly interesting was the bolded statement that some seeds were included with other merchandise that was ordered. How would that practice support the “brushing” theory?
===========================================

Mysterious Seed Mailings Spread

BY JESSE NEWMAN AND JACOB BUNGE

The case of the mystery seeds showing up in U.S. mailboxes from shippers in China and other countries has gone global.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said consumers in at least 22 U.S. states and several other countries received unsolicited packages of seeds. Canada, the U.K. and Australia all are investigating the matter.

The USDA, in a recorded radio broadcast released Wednesday night, revealed the worldwide scope of the seed shipments after thousands of people across the U.S. reported receiving seeds in the mail they didn’t order. States from Washington to Virginia have warned residents about the unsolicited packages, and the USDA said earlier this week that it was collecting the packages to test the seeds for anything of concern.

Multiple U.S. agencies are now investigating the seeds, from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection.

Unsolicited seed packages have been on the USDA’s radar since at least early June, according to state agriculture officials. Gary Black, Georgia’s commissioner of agriculture, said his department contacted the USDA after a handful of state residents reported receiving such deliveries around June 2.

Osama El-Lissy, a deputy administrator for the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said the agency has so far identified 14 species of seeds, from mustard and morning glory to cabbage, rosemary and roses.

As of late Wednesday, there was no indication any of the seeds carry pests or diseases, according to the USDA.

The USDA also reiterated it has no evidence the packages are anything other than a “brushing scam.” In such scams, vendors selling through online retailers like Amazon. com pay “brushers” to place orders for their products, and packages with low-value or no contents are shipped to strangers. Brushers then pose as the buyers and post fake customer reviews to boost the vendor’s sales.

“These appear to be delayed packages due to Covid-19, not brushing,” a spokesperson for Amazon said. The company said it is working with its sellers, customers and government agencies to address concerns about the mailings. The USDA didn’t immediately comment.

Washington resident Jennifer Taylor received all the corn, broccoli and cucumber seeds that she had ordered from Amazon in time to plant her garden in the spring. Then last week a small package arrived in the mail, postmarked from China. It contained a packet of small, cream-colored seeds that, she said, made her nervous. Now, she said, “I want to burn them.”

In Louisiana, state inspectors are working to collect hundreds more packages sent from countries including China, Uzbekistan and the Solomon Islands. Other recipients say packages were sent from the United Arab Emirates and Kyrgyzstan.

Minnesota’s agriculture department is talking with the U.S. Postal Service about identifying and intercepting the packages— often marked as jewelry, toys and other goods—before they are delivered to homes, said Denise Thiede, head of the agency’s seed program.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency this week instructed Canadians who had received such packages not to plant the seeds, while the U.K. government said it has been investigating packages of seeds marked as “ear studs” that citizens there received over the last month. A spokeswoman for Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment said the agency was looking into whether unsolicited seed mailings had been received in that country.

China’s Foreign Ministry earlier this week said mailing labels on the seed packages were forged, and that China had asked the U.S. to send packages for investigation. Chinese government officials had no further comment Thursday.

In the U.S., state and federal officials are asking people who received unsolicited packages not to plant or handle the seeds, to keep them in their original packaging and turn them over to local or U.S. agriculture departments. Planting the seeds can potentially introduce invasive species and spread plant disease, said officials, who also advised against throwing the seeds in the trash for fear they would sprout in landfills.

Some consumers have received seeds in mislabeled packages that weren’t what they ordered. Others have received multiple seed packages after their initial order was delivered. Still others are finding small packets of seeds tucked into packages of other goods they ordered, such as clothing. [Emphasis added.]

In Derbyshire, England, Susan Westerdale two months ago received a small package labeled “ear studs” with Chinese on the address label. Inside was a pack of small, black seeds that looked like those of a cumin plant, she said. Ms. Westerdale had recently ordered seeds on Amazon and eBay, but the description and origin didn’t match that on her orders.

Across the U.S., state agriculture departments over the past week have dispatched plant inspectors and other employees to collect seeds from residents for analysis and investigation.

Sid Miller, commissioner of Texas’ agriculture department, said he is sharing his personal email address and encouraging seed recipients to contact him. One woman this week sent him a photo of a plant she was raising from some bulbs that had arrived in one such package. “I said, you need to burn that right now,” Mr. Miller said.

—Annie Gasparro and Alistair Macdonald contributed to this article.

People in at least 22 states and several other countries got unsolicited packages.

LINK