Mar 21, 2026
Starting in the summer of 2025, Pat Hurley’s home in Elgin, Illinois, became an epicenter for mistaken Amazon orders.
Despite not having an account with the e-commerce giant, delivery drivers visited the 79-year-old’s home month after month with packages labeled with her address and an unknown name. At its peak, Hurley told ABC-7 Chicago she received 20 boxes in one day (1), and she counted over 100 parcels in total.
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For Hurley, this whole ordeal wasn't just an inconvenience. As a senior living alone with a disability, it was frightening to see all these strange packages, some of which were too heavy for her to move.
“If somebody's going to show up...I'm disabled...Alone in the house. And all this is happening. I'm getting a little nervous. You know, I mean, you don't know what's going on in this world,” Hurley told ABC-7.
Although she reported the problem to Amazon, that didn’t stop these deliveries from appearing. It wasn’t until Hurley and her son reached out to local news outlets that things began to change for the better.
According to ABC-7 Chicago, an Amazon driver recently visited Hurley’s home to pick up all the packages. The e-commerce company also said it issued Hurley an apology as it investigates this bizarre case.
Is your shipping blunder a ‘brushing scam?’
When customers complain about e-commerce blunders, common issues include undelivered parcels or potential theft — not receiving boatloads of unwanted boxes.
According to SafeWise, “porch piracy” is now the most common crime in the U.S., with about 250,000 stolen packages every day (2).
However, cases like Hurley’s aren’t a one-off phenomenon. While there’s no official data on this issue, there have been many similar local reports.
For instance, a Massachusetts couple reported receiving one or two Amazon packages every week for five months in 2018 (3).
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More recently, a Californian family in Orange County reported receiving over 50 packages of dresses they never ordered from Amazon (4).
While all these stories may seem like nuisances, experts at organizations like the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and the U.S. Postal Service Inspection Service warn they could be part of a scheme known as a “brushing scam (5)(6).”
In a brushing scam, a victim starts receiving packages containing items they never ordered, usually addressed to them but with no return address. The goal is to make it appear that the recipient is a verified buyer who wrote a glowing review of the merchandise.
As the BBB reports, packages in brushing scams typically come from international third-party sellers who found the recipient's address online.
So, if a parcel was delivered to your property that you didn't order, it could be actually be a case of identity theft.
Although the packages themselves may be harmless, they're a major red flag that someone has obtained your personal details. Thankfully, there are many steps you can take to combat brushing scams if you think you’ve fallen victim to one.
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The right way to handle packages at the wrong address
Whenever you receive a package you didn’t buy, start by checking the shipping label for a simple mix-up. If the name is familiar or the address is nearby, you can just drop it off or leave a note for the courier the next time they pass through.
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For cases where there’s no return address, or if this keeps happening with strange names like the ones in Hurley’s story, it’s safe to assume this is part of a brushing scam (7).
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lists a few steps you can take after you receive one of these packages.
First, log in to your Amazon account (or whatever vendor the packages are coming from) and change your password. You should also reach out to this company either by phone or live chat to explain your situation.
The FTC then recommends checking your credit score information weekly using the official annualcreditreport.com portal (8). Pay careful attention to see if scammers changed any personal information, which may include alternate addresses you’ve never lived at or phone numbers that aren’t yours.
It’s also possible for scammers to open accounts like credit cards or personal loans, and their interference with your identity might trigger issues like hard inquiries or an unexpected drop in your credit score.
If you notice anything suspicious, place a fraud alert or credit freeze with the credit bureaus and report the issue to IdentityTheft.gov (9).
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You can also reach out to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov if you’re worried about being a part of a brushing scam (10).
But what do you do with the literal goodies? Does “finders keepers” apply?
Legally speaking, companies can’t send unordered merchandise to you and then demand payment. As 39 U.S. Code § 3009 states (11), any unordered merchandise “may be treated as a gift by the recipient, who shall have the right to retain, use, discard, or dispose of it in any manner he sees fit without any obligation whatsoever to the sender.”
But even though you could open these packages, whether you should is debatable.
If a package has the correct address but the wrong name, it's best to write "Not at this address" on the box and leave it for the courier to pick up. Even in this unorthodox case, opening mail addressed to someone else might be interpreted as a federal offense under 18 U.S. Code § 1702 (12).
So, if you want to be extra cautious, it’s best to avoid the temptation to claim these new “gifts” and just leave them unopened.
Article sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.
ABC-7 Chicago (1)(4); Safewise (2); CBS News (3); Better Business Bureau (5); United States Postal Service Inspection Service (6); Federal Trade Commission Consumer Advice (7)(10); Annual Credit Report (8); Identity Theft (9); Cornell Law School (11)(12)
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Eric Esposito is a freelance contributor on MoneyWise with an interest in financial markets, investing, and trading. In addition to MoneyWise, Eric’s work can be found on financial publications such as WallStreetZen and CoinDesk. When not researching the latest stock market trends, Eric enjoys biking, walking his dog, and spending time with family in Central Florida. Eric holds a BA in English from Quinnipiac University.
