“Eventually, the official line became that this was a ‘brushing’ campaign, in which items of small value are sent to people whose online accounts have been compromised, or are sent to people as a ‘gift.’ In order to leave a positive review from a ‘verified buyer’ (which is weighted higher because the person nominally bought and used the product), you need to have actually bought or received an item, so by receiving seeds, reviews from that account or name will be weighted higher.”
https://bgr.com/lifestyle/seeds-from-china-mystery-explained-suspected-brushing-campaign/
Thank you, but I really doubt if it were so innocent as that.