Gift or Grief? Scammers Are Hacking Texans Through the Mail

We are all accustomed to getting random calls from bots, emails with sketchy links, and even text messages that are all geared towards trying to scam you out of your money or hack into your devices.

When you are used to seeing scams like these, they are pretty easy to avoid. You learn to see the little things that let you know something is wrong, and you quickly move on with your life. But what if a scam you’ve never seen before ends up in your hands. I mean literally, right in your hands.

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Apparently, there is a new way people are trying to scam others, and it is through the mail.

No, it’s not like the spam mail you are used to getting that is trying to get you to order products or book a service. They disguise this scam as a package delivered to your home with some sort of product in it that you might receive from Amazon or another online retailer.

Some people have supposedly even received things as crazy as a grill or jewelry. In a video posted to TikTok, Kelly T received a book called ‘The One Minute Manager’ (Indian Edition) sent in an amazon package.

With these gifts comes a card that asks, “do you want to know who this is from?” prompting you to scan a QR code that apparently hacks into your phone, steals your information, and wipes your card and accounts clean.

So, if you get a random ‘gift’ in the mail from someone or somewhere you don’t know and it prompts you to scan a QR code or visit a certain website, toss the card and move on with your life knowing you didn’t fall for a crazy scam. If it comes in an Amazon package or another familiar business but you don’t remember purchasing anything, simply check your purchase history with those businesses.