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CHICAGO (WLS) — Imagine the surprise of finding a steady stream of Amazon packages on your doorstep without placing a single order.
This is the puzzling reality for a resident of Elgin, who has been inundated with over 100 packages from the online retail giant, despite not having an Amazon account. Now, she’s determined to put an end to this baffling situation.
Seeking answers, the woman reached out to the ABC7 I-Team for help in unraveling the mystery behind these unsolicited deliveries.
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Among the piles of packages cluttering her garage, the Elgin senior expressed her frustration, stating this is far from a humorous or endearing predicament. Despite alerting Amazon to the issue, the flow of deliveries continues unchecked.
The packages have been arriving at the 79-year-old’s residence since last summer, creating an ongoing headache for the unsuspecting recipient.
Pat Hurley says she’s never even had an Amazon account before. The labels have her address, but someone else’s name. No one in the neighborhood has heard of the person, which has left the senior feeling unsettled.
“If somebody’s going to show up, I’m disabled, alone in the house,” Hurley said. “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.”
Her son says this has got to stop. He says they first reported the mysterious packages to amazon last year, and they were told to just keep them. But they kept coming, sometimes 20 a day.
“It became every other day we were coming over here with a dolly, just moving off the front porch again, back into the garage,” he said.
Some the packages weigh over 60 pounds.
“She has a hard time moving, walking,” he said. “She’s weak. She can’t lift, you know, much of anything. It takes her a hard time to even get out of bed in the morning.”
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He says it appears to be art supplies. They tried donating to local schools and charity, but they won’t accept it due to safety concerns. So, they called Amazon again.
“Their next response was to get the shipping codes off of each and every box file claim for each one, and then for us to take it to Amazon to return,” he said.
They felt that wasn’t their responsibility, so they called the I-Team for help.
“We didn’t know where else to go, what else to do,” Pat Hurley said. “So we’ve seen you help other people tell it to you. I didn’t know what i was going to do.”
ABC7 reached out to Amazon to see if this might be part of a “brushing scam.” That’s when a third-party seller sends unsolicited items to people who did not order them. The goal is to create a fake “verified buyer” account using a person’s address to post fake, positive five-star reviews, boosting their product ranking.
Amazon wouldn’t say if this was a brushing scam, but a spokesperson said in a statement, “We’ve reached out and apologized to Brian and his mother for this experience. We’re investigating and working toward a long-term resolution to prevent this from happening again.”
The woman and her son said after the I-Team got involved, an Amazon driver came by to pick up the packages right before ABC7 arrived, but left because he didn’t want to be on camera.
The family believe the case of the mysterious packages-will be resolved soon.
Amazon told the ABC7 I-Team they are in touch with a senior and they will be arranging another time to pick all of these packages up.
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