WEIRD: Hundreds of Americans receive mystery seeds mailed from China Nine Line News Team July 29, 2020 Nine Line News 1,696 Just when you thought 2020 couldn’t get any crazier, it has. Hundreds of Americans across several states have reported receiving unsolicited packages in the mail, apparently from China, containing packets of mystery seeds. Agriculture departments in at least 31 states have issued warnings against planting the seeds amidst concerns the seeds could be invasive species, introduce diseases to local plants, or be harmful to livestock. Some of the packages were labeled as jewelry or toys. Lori Culley, who lives in Tooele, Utah, told Fox 13 she was excited to find two small packages in her mailbox that appeared to contain earrings. “I opened them up and they were seeds,” Culley said. “Obviously they’re not jewelry!” Culley put a post on her Facebook page about the curious packet and was surprised to learn the same thing has happened to “at least 40 people” who either publicly commented or privately responded to her post. Now Culley wonders how many people might have been so curious about the seeds that they decided to plant them. “There was an article that I found in the UK saying this has been happening over there, and they are bad seeds, they are invasive,” Culley said. “I hope that it’s nothing too serious… don’t throw them in the garbage. Don’t plant them. Don’t touch them.” Culley cautions, “We just can’t be too vigilant. We have to. There’s too much crazy stuff going on in our world, and a lot of it’s coming from China.” While agriculture departments have warned residents in their states about the possible scary dangers of the seeds, police and other officials are saying the seeds are likely connected to an online scam called “brushing.” Here’s how the scam works: a seller trying to boost the ratings of their own merchandise sets up a fake email account to create an Amazon profile, then purchases an item and ships it to the address of a random person. Once the package is delivered, the owner of the Amazon account is then listed as a “verified buyer” of the product and can write a positive review of it that gets higher placement on product pages. The Better Business Bureau warns, The fact that someone was able to have the items sent to you as if you purchased them indicates that they probably have some of your personal information such as your name, address, and possibly, your phone number. Once the information is out there on the internet, it could be used for numerous crooked enterprises. Some people have actually received good stuff as part of a brushing scam including a humidifier, a hand warmer, a flashlight, a Bluetooth speaker and a computer vacuum cleaner. Beats the heck out of random seeds, right? But you have to admit there’s something potentially creepy about seemingly innocuous seeds…hmm. What do they ACTUALLY grow into?