Any botany enthusiasts recognize the seeds pictured? They look like lemon seeds to my untrained eye.
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I found a packet of David Suzuki Foundation “bee blend” in a care share glove compartment. Turned out to be a single purple flower in a sea of California poppies that took over the garden. Speaking of invasives!
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But do they have to actually mail the item being reviewed? Here’s some Expired seeds I bought for a buck for 10lbs - Five Star review for my refrigerator?
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Hm. A few days ago, I received a “seedsheet gardening kit” including a fabric bag and a “seed mix for tacos”. It says “as part of our plant1pledge1 promotion, you were nominated to receive this free…kit.” Friends and family know I am a crazy gardener and this kinda thing is usually the work of my sister. They appear to be legit, and it was right around my b-day, so I might take a crack at it.
NPR’s Planet Money did a pretty good job peeling the onion on these mystery packages.
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There’s a different ebay scam, where a shady seller will send a random item (usually an envelope of junk mail) with tracking to some address in your ZIP code, instead of the $350 Switch console you thought you were getting. Because of privacy issues, it’s difficult to get UPS or USPS or FedEx to confirm that the tracking number with the junk mail doesn’t confirm delivery of your electronic gear to you. Ebay and PayPal are getting slightly better about recognizing the scam, but it’s still hard sledding.
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Yeah. Like couldn’t they use one of those really big numbers as the actually order #. So big you don’t even need to check for collisions. GUIDs? They weren’t available in GWBASIC or QuickBASIC, but I hear they’re common now.
How do they do that without access to the customer’s account? 
If you send them to enough people, enough might plant them to cause a problem (see every scam ever). I can very much see a hostile foreign nation inundating our country with invasive species - even if it’s just from people throwing the seeds out without destroying them.
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An empty package would seem unusual and get flagged - either by the post, by machines that don’t expect packages would blow away, or by customs inspectors who have an expectation of what a “ring” would weigh.
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My wife got oversized obviously fake Nike running shoes once. We thought that an account had been compromised or something similar, but everything was secure.
I wonder how many fake shoes you have to send out to “brush” your account enough to make the counterfeits you’re sending out not immediately swamp the selling account with bad reviews (canceling out all the free product you sent)… Doesn’t seem all that cost effective.
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I saw in one story they’ve shown up in Utah, and our local news said they’ve shown up in Michigan, too:
If you’ve received a package of seeds in the mail, don’t open them. Here’s why - WXYZ
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The makings of a Seed Mule?
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Inspired.
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Wow, interesting; she really explained “triangulation” fraud well.
…I don’t see the point of “don’t plant them”; it’s not like the scammers actually care if you ever do.
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Being able to filter out foreign sellers would also be nice.
Being shown what you’re actually searching for sure would be cool. I ran a search for cotton dresses and about 75% of the results were polyfuckingester.
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Different types have been received by different folks. Some pics show tiny red or brown ones.
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I was about to say the same.
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Forget Seeds. Me? I won’t be fooled again.
Send me dead flowers.
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That stuff? Makes fine rope or canvas. Not a high in a houseful. Even ditch weed is better for what you appear to have in mind.
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