Weatherly Borough police are warning residents about a new scam using QR codes showing up in many states.

The “brushing” scam happens when someone receives an unexpected gift or item not ordered in the mail from a place, such as Amazon or another company.

Gift items could 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 who sent it, there is a QR code to scan to find out who sent the gift.

Once the code is scanned, information from the phone will be sent to the scammers, who receive all access to the phone and personal and financial information.

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 scans are not new and have shown up in all places, including parking meters.

Borough police ask that people inform their family about the scam, and avoid scanning any unknown QR codes included in a package.

Weatherly police have not received any reports of this occurring in the borough, but hope to keep the public informed of new scams to spread awareness.