AI-assisted source summary. Read the scope and exceptions, then follow the original documents below.
Applies to
United States · unsolicited parcels and QR phishing warnings
Time context
FTC alert August 2026; postal guidance updated March 2025
Sources checked
An unfamiliar package is not proof that your account was hacked. Verify gifts and delivery mistakes independently; these warnings describe a known pattern.
Why send something for free?
FTC's August 2026 alert explains that sellers can use delivery records to support fake reviews under a recipient's name. Cheap goods become a cost of manipulating the marketplace's apparent reputation.
The Postal Inspection Service describes brushing packages with QR codes directing recipients to imitation websites. Requests to identify a mystery sender can become requests for credentials or payment information.
Our checklist: open the marketplace through its known app, inspect orders and report suspicious listings there. If you entered credentials on an unfamiliar site, change them through the real service and review account activity.
Original documents used for this summary. Multiple links from one publisher are not independent corroboration. Policies can change after the check date.
AI-assisted research, writing and translation by No Secrets, using the linked public documents. This is a source summary, not firsthand reporting or an independently audited investigation. No affiliate links are used in this article.
The date above records this research pass, not the date of every underlying event. The English and Chinese versions are AI-assisted summaries; the linked original controls if they differ.