AKRON, Ohio — Scanning QR codes is something we’ve gotten used to doing without having to think twice.
But because of a new scam, experts said you might want to use a little bit more caution.
“A lot of these scams have just moved online and become technologically advanced,” said TrustedSec Advisory Solutions Director Alex Hamerstone.
The community is on high alert after the Akron Police Department posted a message on Facebook Tuesday regarding a recent ‘brushing’ scam involving unexpected packages being sent to your home and QR codes located inside for you to find the sender.
“Don’t scan QR codes that are not in expected places,” said Hamerstone.
According to Hamerstone, online retailers use ‘brushing’ to generate a lot of reviews and be highly rated, so in an effort to market their product, they do this.
“They'll sell the product at a very cheap price to themselves and ship it just to a random address. It could be completely random, or it could be that your name and address were found in a previous data breach at this point,” said Hamerstone.
Hamerstone encourages you not to panic if an unsolicited package has been sent to your home, and he even said by law, you can keep it.
But Hamerstone and Akron Police said it should come off as a red flag if that package does not include the sender’s information or it is not from a known retailer and asks you to scan a QR code to find out who sent the gift.
If you do scan it, experts say all your personal and financial information on your phone will be sent to scammers.
“Generally, if you didn't order the package, you should not be following the QR code,” said Hamerstone.
Consumers like Chloe Eaglowski said this new scam is concerning.
“I would totally fall for that for sure. Like I get random packages to my apartment all the time, so that’s kind of crazy,” said Chloe Eaglowski.
Meanwhile, others like Michael Osickey told News 5 that he would avoid scanning that QR code.
“If you get an email from somebody you don’t know where it came from, you shouldn’t open it or download any of the documents that it came with because that’s how other scams happen as well,” said Michael Osickey.
News 5 reached out to the Akron Police Department, and officials said they do not have any victims or current cases at this time, but they are on high alert.
