Man in His 30s Receives Unordered Dress in 'Parcel Bomb' After 'Ali' Transaction... Suspected Brushing Scam

50 Unidentified Packages Delivered Over 6 Months, Police Investigation Requested

A man in his 30s has requested a police investigation after suffering from a "parcel bomb" situation, where items he did not order have been continuously delivered for six months following a purchase on the Chinese e-commerce platform Ali.

According to the Busan Nambu Police Station on the 16th, Mr. A, who lives in Nam-gu, Busan, reported to the police after receiving about 30 parcels containing items he did not order from AliExpress since December last year.

In December 2023, when a parcel from AliExpress arrived, Mr. A thought it might be a forgotten order and opened it, only to find a women's dress inside.

He wondered if it was a delivery mistake, but similar parcels continued to arrive from that point on. Many of the parcels were empty envelopes, and some contained trash such as scraps of fabric.

This "parcel bomb" situation has continued for six months, and the total number of parcels received has now exceeded 50. All of them are reportedly sent from the Chinese e-commerce platform AliExpress.

Mr. A said parcels kept piling up in front of his house, making him worry about the possibility of hazardous substances or even being implicated in a crime.

Unable to endure the situation any longer, he called AliExpress's Korean customer service center to request returns and countermeasures, but was told they could not make decisions as the headquarters is in China, and only received an apology.

It has been reported that similar posts have been appearing on online communities, with others claiming they have received unordered parcels after using AliExpress.

There is speculation that this may be a so-called "brushing scam," where unordered items are sent to random recipients and reviews are posted under their names to artificially boost online sales figures.

A police official stated, "We are currently in the pre-investigation stage and have requested order information from the AliExpress customer service center."