Student finds a scorpion crawling in the Shein package

The roommates then gave the scorpion water on a kitchen towel, which it drank immediately, and a card to hide under before contacting groups of animals.

Phoebe said they tried the RSPCA but found it was more focused on collecting cats and dogs before contacting the National Center for Reptile Welfare (NCRW).

The charity was able to send someone over within a few hours.

NCRW's Chris Newman said reports of such stowaways are surprisingly common.

“The scorpion is Olivierus martensii“There really isn’t a common name other than Chinese scorpion,” he said.

He said his stabbing was “medically significant… potentially life-threatening, but your average adult would just be having a really bad day.”

“It is quite worrying that this is the second case in less than a month that has occurred in this way.”

Fortunately, there was no stinger at the end of this story, and Ms. Alonso-Mossinger said it “feels like a funny story now… but at the time it was pretty scary.”

Shein said they have contacted her to resolve the issue.

In a statement it said: “After receiving feedback, we immediately conducted an internal investigation.”

“Our on-site teams reviewed the shipment packaging process and conducted an inspection of the goods in our warehouse and confirmed that all standard operating processes were followed.”