Illinois, A Purple Hair Tie In Your Mail Could Be Dangerous

If you find something as small as a random purple hair tie in your mailbox, you may need to proceed with caution.

In not-so-surprising news, people are still creepy. It's not uncommon to get unexpected packages in the mail from a sender you don't know containing a very random object. It's happened with rings before and now the trend seems to be purple hair ties.

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A woman on my Facebook feed posted that both she and her friend received unexpected purple hair ties in the mail from South America. She says she soon after received a notification on her phone that an AirTag was found on/near her and that touching the purple hair tie made her sick. So her theory is that she and possibly her friend were/are being physically tracked.

How Dangerous Is It?

Some people are arguing that it's a "mark" of human trafficking. But after some digging, I couldn't find evidence to support that. The only thing I found that it likely would be is a brushing scam.

If you get something small and random in the mail from a weird, unexpected address, there's a good chance your personal information has been compromised somewhere.

It's not the same as a human trafficking "mark" but having stuff like your address, phone number, and you don't know what else available to scammers is definitely still a dangerous situation to find yourself in.

What Do I Do If I Get A Hair Tie In The Mail?

USPIS has suggestions on what to do if you get unexpected packages in the mail.

Don't pay for it
Return to Sender (If it has a return address, and it's unopened, mark it “RETURN TO SENDER” and USPS will return it at no charge to you)
Throw it Away
Keep It (if it's free and cute, might as well)
Change Your Account Passwords
Watch Your Credit Card Statements & Credit Reports
Notify Authorities (especially if instead of a ring, the brushing scam was some kind of food, plants, or a random liquid)
Be Wary Before Opening
Notify The Retailer (If unsolicited merchandise arrives from Amazon, eBay, or another third-party seller, go to that company’s website and file a fraud report. Ask the company to remove any fake reviews under your name.)

Be careful with your mail!

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