A woman in US' Virginia was left shocked after boxes upon boxes of Amazon packages that she never ordered started coming to her house. The boxes, addressed to a certain "Lixiao Zhang", started arriving at Cindy Smith's doorstep in Prince William County, New York Post reported.
The Amazon boxes contained about 1,000 headlamps, 800 glue guns, and dozens of binoculars for children, reported Insider quoting CBS affiliate station WUSA.
Footage shared by WUSA showed dozens of Amazon packages piled on her doorstep and stacked in her basement.
“They came from everybody. FedEx, Amazon, and all of them were delivering boxes. It's a lot of packages. I didn't order them,'' she said.
The parcels just kept piling up to the point that delivery drivers were finding it difficult to access her front door.
To get rid of the boxes, Ms. Smith drove around the town, giving packages to those who would just take them.
“I would drive around with headlamps and glue guns in the car. I gave them to everybody I met. All my neighbours got glue guns or headlamps. I gave them to dog shelters, and to veterinary clinics. I went to Burger King one day, and I was like, 'I have a gift for you','' she said.
Ms Smith initially suspected that she had become a victim of the infamous ‘brushing scam,' where sellers send unordered items to boost their product ratings with fake positive reviews.
However, WUSA suspects that she might be the victim of a ''vendor return'' scheme, wherein when sellers attempt to get rid of unsold products from Amazon fulfilment centres.
“It all boils down to money. You have sellers located in China, who are just picking random addresses. And then when they need to get their products out of Amazon's warehouses, they're just having them sent there, because it's just cheaper for them to do so,'' explained CJ Rosenbaum, a New York Attorney who represents companies selling on Amazon.
Amazon said in a statement that the seller account had violated the company's policy by engaging in "abusive activity" and the account has been closed.
