If you mysteriously receive cheap, unassigned Amazon packages you never ordered, what economic hustle is playing out?

The package may be a fake sale in disguise

An unsolicited, inexpensive package can be part of a practice called brushing. A seller—or someone working for one—uses a real person’s name and address to create the appearance that a product was bought and delivered to an independent customer. The recipient may never have placed an order, and the item may be cheap enough that shipping it is a small cost to the seller.

The package is useful because online marketplaces track sales and deliveries. A seller can use fabricated orders to make a listing look more active, and may try to add a positive review tied to a supposed purchase. That can make shoppers more likely to trust the listing and can improve its visibility. The recipient’s address supplies a real delivery destination; it does not mean the recipient endorsed the item or wrote a review.

Why send something at all?

A seller could invent activity without shipping anything, but an actual delivery helps the transaction look more like an ordinary purchase. A low-cost object—sometimes something the recipient did not choose—can serve as the physical proof that a parcel arrived. The seller is betting that the boost in credibility or visibility will be worth more than the item and postage.

This is different from a normal misdelivery, in which a package was meant for someone else. It can also signal that personal information is circulating beyond the recipient’s control, though the package alone does not prove that a payment account was hacked.

What the recipient should do

Check the marketplace account and payment statements for an order or charge. If neither shows one, do not pay the sender or follow a message demanding a fee; report the unsolicited delivery to the marketplace. If an unfamiliar order or charge does appear, secure the account and contact the marketplace or payment provider.

The odd package is the visible cost of the hustle. Its intended audience is often not the person opening the box, but the next shopper deciding whether a listing looks popular and trustworthy.