Brushing Scam? Mysterious Seeds From China Are Being Sent To Australian Addresses

Imagine receiving seeds in your mail. Bizarre, right?

Well, that is exactly what is happening in Australia presently as people are receiving mysterious seeds in their mail. Officials have warned them against planting any seeds that are mysteriously coming in their possession.

The Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment said that dozens of packages have arrived in the country Down Under from China, Malaysia and Taiwan.

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The authorities are unsure of what kind of seeds they are or why they have been sent to the addresses but they are certain that it could cause the country billions of dollars of damage if they turn out to be invasive. Also, turns out, Australia is not the only one dealing with this mystery.

People from the US have also revealed about receiving these mystery seeds in their mail from China.

According to The Metro, the UK has reported around 100 such incidents so far. This has left people wondering what this could be all about. Warnings have been issued across America's 50 states; Florida alone has 630 instances.

Also read: Haryana Forest Dept Uses Drones To Plant Seeds & Increase Green Cover In The Aravallis

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Australian Seed Federation chief executive Osman Mewett said: "I'm very curious as to the motive behind it, because neither here nor in any of the overseas reports has anyone been able to explain why this is happening, where they are coming from.

He added, "There are a few conspiracy theories out there, but I really haven't seen anything concrete as to why this would be happening. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason about who is receiving these packages."

Also read: Angry Homeowner Yells At Australian PM & Reporters To Get Off His ¡®Freshly Seeded Grass¡¯

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One American ended up planting the mysterious seeds from China and regretted his decision. Doyle Crenshawn told 5 News: "Every two weeks I'd come by and put Miracle-Gro on it, and they just started growing like crazy. The package said it was from China and said 'studded earrings' on the outside, and we thought that was a little odd."

Authorities are now going to take the seeds into their possession and perform tests in order to identify them. According to the US Department of Agriculture, this is part of a 'brushing scam'.

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Brushing scam is when an e-commerce seller uses someone's personal information to place an order on their own and sends something cheap so that the sale gets validated. This helps in boosting the seller's rating and bringing the items to the top of search results on the web.