Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office warns of scam as Christmas nears

CHAFFEE COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - The Chaffee County Sherriff's Office (CCSO) is warning residents of a "brushing" scam that has allegedly been impacting people living in Chaffee County. They say the scam has been showing up as we approach Christmas.

The department explains the scam as when someone receives an unexpected gift or item not ordered in the mail from a place like Amazon or another company. They say examples of gifts include, rings, bracelets, necklaces, Bluetooth speakers, 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.

CCSO says that once the code is scanned, all the information from that phone will be sent to scammers. Commenters on the social media post have disputed this saying the QR code takes you to a link where you can either enter your information or once on the link it will access your information. KRDO13 is working to confirm these claims.

The department claims the scammers 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, according to CCSO. KRDO13 is reaching out to data security experts to verify this information.

Alternatively, LifeLock says the packages are likely coming from merchants, like those on Amazon, who are creating fake accounts to buy their own products and ship them to your home. When an order is completed and shipped, the account then writes a fake review which enables the seller to boost their own rating.

CCSO says the gift can be kept or thrown away, but the QR code should NOT be scanned for any reason.

They ask that you inform your family members about the scam and avoid scanning any unknown QR codes included in the package.