planted seeds from china

[spotanjo3]

What do I see ? What bad ? I am lost somewhat.

https://www.wmbfnews.com/2020/07/30/ky-woman-mistakenly-planted-seeds-china-this-is-what-happened/

 

[Chary]

That’s a really blasé response of “idk burn it or bag it w/e” given that it could be a potential invasive species sent with hostile intentions.

Not that I claim to know anything about plants, but it sure is weird or suspicious that people are getting these seeds randomly.

 

[spotanjo3]

Funny is that she said I don't know burn it and it was difficult or bag it. LOL!

What seeds ? What are they talk about ? Fake seeds ? Or something ?

 

[TimPV3]

People randomly received seeds from China. I'll let Customs and Border Patrol explain why it's bad:

"Plant pests and disease, as well as invasive plant material can cause crop loss and also damage lawns, ornamental plants, and trees. Plant pest infestations can result in increased costs to consumers due to pest eradication efforts as well as lower crop yields. High risk plant pest and animal disease outbreaks within the U.S. could also adversely affect the economy as a result of reduced trade of U.S. origin goods to countries around the world."

I think it's a little too out in the open for it to be China trying to sabotage us, but I knew someone would end up planting them

 

[Taleweaver]

I personally think it's hilarious. So there is a Chinese company sending out seeds. Is it...

A) a simple marketing stunt
B) an elaborate scheme to foil us agriculture by distributing seeds in the hope that people will plant them in such a massive degree that it has an impact to begin with

Occam's razor suggests that if China really wanted to plant some kind of malicious seeds, they'd just send some guys with a few bags of seeds on field trips throughout the USA. Plenty of spots to plant something, easier, more reliable, cheaper and draws far less attention than this stuff.
In other words : the correct answer is A.

@people saying B: wearing a tinfoil hat yet?

 

[notimp]

US agencies have looked into it and have proposed that it is an 'upranking scheme' for online seller accounts. Packages were labled to contain 'jewelry'.

How it works:

Marketplaces (think amazon) use what are called 'veryfied reviews' to rank and position sellers in different categories.

For a verified review to be written, there has to be a confirmed order, and a package that did go out and was received by the buyer. (Marketplaces track that).

So now you send out a cheapo good from a fake account (email you own), to a valid address, label it as the thing your store tries to flog, when you are not sending out seeds, and make sure to not just stuff it with papershreds, because the customer would maybe try to investigate what that is.

Issue - turns out, people also call the police, when they start to receive seeds in the mail. In Northamerica. Next time use cheapo erotic underwear, problem solved..

Should already be part of some of those newsstories..

edit: Cheapo erotic underwear and a stone. Marketplaces also check weight (through the postal system).

 

[Alexander1970]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating another suspicion.
The postal items could be a scam.
People receive the parcels without having ordered them.
The names and dates are then used for avatars who leave fake positive reviews on online trading platforms to drive sales up.

 

[notimp]

Same scheme I tried to outline. Thank you for adding that the dept. of agriculture made that press release, I didnt remember which one off the top of my head.