I came home last week to find a package on our stoop. I wasn't expecting something, but it's OK maybe my wife ordered it. I grabbed it and brought it inside, verified the address as ours, and looked at the name.

It read "Michael williams (sic)." Gotta love then these scammers use two first names and don't even capitalize them correctly.

I immediately knew I was a "victim" of a brushing scam! I was about to write that I couldn't wait to open it up, but apparently I could wait as it's Sunday now and it's been sitting in the living room all week.

This morning I decided to finally see what was up with Michael williams' (sic) mysterious Amazon order. But first, a few things.

1. I made sure it was a legitimate Amazon delivery by checking our Ring camera. There was a van, and a uniformed delivery guy.
2. I checked my Amazon account and saw no orders delivered that day, and no shipping address including the name Michael williams (sic).
3. I checked using Google Gemini for anyone with that name who lives at all on our street—not just our block. Nothing.

I also had to brush up on this scam, because I heard about it once on Planet Money and pretty much never again. So, here's what I got, courtesy of Action News.

A brushing scam is a type of fraud where scammers send unsolicited packages to random address, and then post fake reviews on the site so their review—always 5-star and vague—can appear as a "Verified purchase." The goal of the scam is to boost the ranking of the product as well as the credibility of the seller. Over the years they have become more sophisticated, and now they can include a QR code. "Scan this code leave a review and get $50 back" or something like that.

The QR code would then lead you to a phishing website where they can steal your personal information.

OK. So, I was armed with the information I needed. I could now open the package and see what they sent me.

It was some BDSM stuff for couples.

I don't know if I should tell me wife or not.