AKRON, Ohio — Have you ever heard of a “brushing” scam?
The Akron Police Department issued a warning Tuesday on Facebook about the scheme with the following explanation of how it works:
A “brushing” scam is when someone receives an unexpected gift or item not ordered in the mail from a place like Amazon or other company. Examples of gifts include, rings, bracelets, necklaces, Bluetooth speaker, etc. The gift will have the recipient’s address, but not include the sender's information or be from a known retailer. When the recipient opens the package to see what it is and possibly who sent it, there is a QR code to scan to find out who sent the gift.
Once the code is scanned, all the information from that phone will be sent to scammers. They receive all access to the phone. All personal and financial information is accessible to the scammers and often the victim's bank accounts are drained.
The gift can be kept or thrown away, but the QR code should NOT be scanned for any reason. QR code scams are nothing new. These scams show up in all places, including parking meters.
Akron police advise to avoid scanning any unknown QR codes included in any package.
While Akron police did not indicate an influx in these types of scams happening locally, their post does note that "brushing" is recent scam "showing up in many states."