Illinois, If You Find A Purple Hair Tie In Your Mail, You Could Be In Danger

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.

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!