Dailyinet

Agricultural Warfare? – Mystery seeds sent to the US from China were identified

In the midst of all the tension between China and the US, unsolicited packs of seeds were sent to American citizens from China. This unexpected event made many people jump to conclusions and assume the worst, that this was an attempt to send other viruses or plagues to US soil, literally.

However, a recent development shed some light into this case when officials identified the seeds, which we’ll talk about in a moment. No, it’s most likely not agricultural warfare or a biological weapon to ruin America, but the real explanation is also very intriguing.

An e-commerce scam

There is a common scam on online stores called “brushing” which happens when a company buys its own products (from Amazon for example) and ships them out randomly, just to say that it was a “purchase” so they could post a positive fake review.

It’s kind of a desperate strategy for businesses that don’t have enough sales to be visible, and the timing was definitely very bad, considering a lot of people are accusing China of intentionally spreading the COVID – 19, but that seems to be a coincidence.

The truth is, there is a lot of online stores selling “magical seeds”, that can grow into rainbow tomatoes and watermelons the size of a person, and those stores can only survive with the overwhelming amount of good reviews that will fool people.

This story, although very interesting, seems to be just a scam inside of a scam that was blown out of proportion. Other people have different theories on what is the true intention of those packages, like the Chinese strategy to take over American agriculture with super-seeds.

That theory doesn’t seem to have much foundation, but when you search for “fake seeds” online, you will find many videos and posts warning people about these scams, from years ago. You really only need to start looking for seeds online until a website pops up offering some flowers that will cure cancer and whatnot.

What authorities found on the packages

The US Department of Agriculture has determined that the mysterious packages contain roses, vegetables, and herbs of all kinds, and have not found any dangerous substance in them. However, officials alert the public to never plant or even open the packages if you receive them, just notify the authorities.

It’s important to be cautious with this product since it could still harm your environment if you don’t know what they are, after all, the seeds might not be an attempt to bioterrorism but they are still the product of deceiving company.

You also shouldn’t just throw the seeds in the garbage since they can spread and cause potential harm to the environment and local vegetation. The best way to discard them is to burn the seeds, which will avoid the possible infestation of bugs and invasive plants that could be in the packages.

You can also turn them over to local officials so they can conduct proper research on the specimen, but there doesn’t seem to be a reason for panic.