16 December 2024, El Paso, Texas, Steven Zimmerman– A recent scam has been showing up in many states. We have not had any local reports in El Paso or Las Cruces, but want to make residents aware before you are victimized.

“Everyone needs to be aware of this scam,” says Richard Miller, a data recovery specialist in Austin, Texas. “This scam has the potential to copy everything on your phone.”

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.

“Any unknown gift, or package that contains a QR code should be suspect,” says Mr. Miller. “This is what happened to my mother just this past Saturday. We are now working to recover her lost savings.”

Richard Miller explained that the “note” enclosed within the package said to scan the QR code to see who sent the package

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. Inform your family members about the scam and avoid scanning any unknown QR codes included in the package