[Editors note, Aug. 2, 11am: The article has been updated with Shopee's response.]

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For months, a Singaporean woman has been receiving strange packages supposedly from sellers on e-commerce platform Shopee.

To date, she has received strange items like stickers, tissue paper, instruction manuals, pieces of metal and empty boxes, in packages addressed to her, and sent to her home address.

She, her family and friends, did not place any of these orders.

The situation has frustrated her so much that she claims she is being "harassed" by Shopee sellers.

Strange packages sent to her home

The woman, who is in her 40s, told Mothership that the strange packages started arriving in October 2021.

At first, she received items like a plastic whistle, baby wipes, tissue paper, and stickers.

For some of the packages, the item that was sent did not match what was stated on the package label.

All of the packages indicated that they were from sellers on Shopee's platform.

When the strange packages started showing up at her house, she contacted Shopee to share her concern that her personal information had been revealed to their platform sellers.

Shopee told the woman that they had taken action on the user who misused her personal information, but could not determine how the user got hold of her information in the first place.

Though Shopee did not address her question on how her personal information, like her name, address and phone number, got leaked to the Shopee user, she dropped the matter, thinking that it was resolved.

Starts receiving strange packages again

However, when the woman started receiving similar packages again in recent weeks, her exasperation grew.

This time, the items she received were even stranger -- a stack of instruction manuals, small metal pieces, and even just empty boxes and packages.

She told Mothership she receives four such deliveries a week.

"I feel harassed every other day, having to receive deliveries in my name at my doorstep and in my letter box," she added.

She shared that she feared the contents of these "bogus deliveries": "What other sinister things can be sent to the doorstep of my own home? It makes me and my family feel unsafe."

Disappointed with Shopee's response

She has contacted Shopee after the resurgence in strange deliveries to her house. But she is less than satisfied with their replies.

She said she was disappointed in Shopee's response. In an email to her, they said that they have taken the "necessary actions" on their part, and that was "all they could do".

The woman said they again did not address how these sellers had access to her personal information.

"If and when it happens again, there is nothing Shopee can do to protect me and my data," she lamented.

She said she hopes for more accountability on Shopee's part, in ensuring that customers' personal information would not be leaked and abused by sellers.

Believes she is a victim of "brushing"

The woman told Mothership that she believes she is a victim of an e-commerce scam called "brushing".

According to Yahoo, brushing is a type of marketing fraud that sellers on an e-commerce platform, like Amazon, might use to artificially boost their ratings by successfully sending out packages.

By increasing the number of packages sent out, the e-commerce platform's algorithm might push the product up further in listings, translating to more genuine purchases.

Though brushing does not result in financial losses for the people receiving these bogus deliveries, it may indicate that the individual's personal information has been compromised.

"Zero tolerance for this behaviour": Shopee

In response to queries from Mothership, a Shopee spokesperson said it has suspended user accounts that it believes may have been attempting to manipulate their search rankings in violation of Shopee's terms of service.

"We have zero tolerance for this behaviour. We are also reaching out to the user directly. We have safeguards in place to prevent this abusive behaviour and such incidents are rare. Nevertheless, we encourage users who have received unsolicited parcels from Shopee to report them to our CS teams." added the spokesperson.

All photos by Mothership reader