Police have issued an urgent warning after scores of Amazon shoppers across the country were targeted by scammers.

A number of UK customers of the online service have reported recieving 'free' parcels that they did not order.

What have police said?

In a statement, Surrey Police said: "There have been several recent reports in the UK of a ‘brushing scam’, involving Amazon sellers setting up accounts in a stranger's name and sending products to them that they did not order.

"These accounts are then used to write fake verified reviews to try and improve the seller’s ratings.

"Some of these packages are sent from China, with the contents often listed as jewellery. When opened, they are instead found to contain seeds.

"If you receive a package containing seeds that you did not order, please do not plant them."

What has the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA)?

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) advise that, if the seeds have been planted, to dispose of the plants in a safe manner by:

  • Placing in a double lined bag
  • Seal securely
  • Dispose of in your ordinary household waste (not garden waste) to ensure this reaches a registered landfill site

If there are any unplanted seeds left, send them in their original envelope and or packaging to:

Paul Bratby
APHA-PHSI
2nd Floor
Apex Court
City Link
Nottingham
NG2 4LA

The seeds will be destroyed by APHA.

Those who concerns can also email PlantHealth.Info@apha.gov.uk for advice.

What should you do if you recieve a parcel you didn't order or pay for from Amazon?

Surrey Police added: If you have received any parcel deliveries from Amazon that you didn’t order or pay for, we would also recommend that you change your account password, cancel the card linked to the account, and report these parcels to Amazon so that they can investigate."

What have the UK Government said?

A Government spokesman said: "Biosecurity is of vital importance and we have robust checks in place to protect our plants and wildlife, including for online plant sales.

"Anyone who has received such seeds should not plant them and instead report them to us."

Warning of mysterious 'seed packages'

The fresh alert comes after numerous cases of people around the world reported receiving mysterious 'seed packages' with unknown contents.

Thousands of shipments of seeds are said to have arrived at homes in New Zealand, the US, Canada and Europe, with 100 cases in the UK.

The origin of the seeds is unknown, and this has sparked biosecurity fears among officials.

International investigations have been launched in order to uncover the source of the seeds, as well as to determine the reason they've been posted.

What do the seeds look like?

Photographs posted by recipients show that the packaging of the seeds varies, with some packages marked as containing a "toy", others bearing Chinese characters, and some marked as "rose stud" earrings - likely in order to evade security checks.

Alarmingly, the shipments are addressed to recipients by name, suggesting that there may have been a data breach.