Those mysterious seeds sent from China and Kyrgyzstan that the Minnesota Department of Agriculture warned about this week could be the product of an international internet scam known as “brushing.”
As of Tuesday, more than 150 people all across Minnesota had reported receiving unsolicited seed packets, which were sent in small white packages and labeled as small jewelry or other items, said Denise Thiede, the agency’s seed unit supervisor.
Minnesota is one of more than a dozen states reporting the arrival of the mystery seeds; multiple agencies on Monday issued warnings urging the public not to plant them.
“Anytime that you introduce something that is new to the area, there is always a risk that it could be invasive, and that’s really why we don’t want these seeds to get planted,” Thiede said.
“Brushing,” Thiede explained, is a way to boost business ratings on Amazon. “That’s one of the hypotheses,” she said.
According to the Better Business Bureau, foreign, third-party sellers are using ill-gotten Amazon information to deliver random products to customers throughout North America.
The sellers use your address and Amazon information to “make it appear as though you wrote a glowing online review of their merchandise, and that you are a verified buyer of that merchandise,” the BBB says. “They then post a fake, positive review to improve their products’ ratings, which means more sales for them. The payoff is highly profitable from their perspective.”
Anyone who receives unsolicited packages should change their Amazon password and monitor their credit report, bank accounts and credit card bills, according to the BBB.
In the case of the seeds, directions labeled “Planting introduction” accompanied a package sent from the KEP Sorting Center in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The instructions direct recipients to plant the seeds in a nutrient-rich soil, maintain a proper temperature and to “please keep the water enough, too dry or too wet will cause the seed to die.” Questions? Recipients are asked to “contact me and please do not rush to leave bad feedback.”
The first suspicious package from China arrived at Heather Hahn’s house in Warroad, Minn., around Memorial Day. Four more arrived over the next few weeks from China, Singapore and Kyrgyzstan.
Labels said the contents would be a ring, or earrings. Instead, Hahn found a packages of seeds.
“I was suspicious right away,” she said. “Just by the packaging and the strange city in China that it was coming from and the fact that I didn’t order them, it was enough to put me on high alert.”
Some looked like bean seeds; others looked like cucumber seeds. “There are others that are really tiny,” she said. “My son looked at them yesterday and said, ‘Those look like canola.’”
The package that arrived last week had more than a dozen different seed packets inside, she said.
After learning that the MDA is warning residents not to plant them, Hahn said she was glad she took precautions. She didn’t open the packets, she stored them in a Ziploc bag in the basement, and she washed her hands thoroughly after touching them.
On Tuesday afternoon, she said she planned to follow MDA guidelines and ship the packages to the agency.
“There is just no way I would plant them,” she said. “You just never know. We have a lot of farmers up here, and the seeds could have been genetically modified. You have to be careful.”
Hahn’s mother ordered some cucumber seeds via Amazon.com in April, but Hahn doesn’t know if the mysterious packages are connected to that order.
“My mom said never, ever again will she order seeds off the internet,” Hahn said. “We will always get them from a local garden center or hardware store. For us, it was a lesson learned … because we kind of felt that somebody just got our name, saw what we were shopping for and ‘Boom.’”
The MDA is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Smuggling Interdiction and Trade Compliance Program on identification and destruction of the seeds.
With tensions running high between the U.S. and China on issues including defense and trade, some recipients of the seeds asked via social media postings last week if there could be a nefarious intent like spreading invasive plant species, according to CQ-Roll Call.
Unidentified seeds may become the source of widespread damage. Invasive species can overrun farmland and compete with crops for water and nutrients. Some are accidentally introduced with seeds hitching a ride on other plants, and some are introduced intentionally, CQ-Roll call reported. The infamous kudzu vine was introduced in Pennsylvania as a tool to reduce soil erosion and planted in the Southeast as an ornamental plant and cover crop. The vine outpaces native plants in growth and smothers other plants in its path.
According to the MDA, Minnesotans should do the following if they have received unsolicited packages of seeds:
- Do not throw away the package or its contents.
- Do not plant the seeds.
- Contact Arrest the pest line at 1-888-545-6684 or arrest.the.pest@state.mn.us and provide your name, contact information, and the date the package was received. Officials will coordinate shipping the packaging and contents to the MDA Seed Program.