Minnesota, Beware of the Diamond Ring Scam That Could Steal Your Personal Information

So. Many. Scams! I feel like we talk about new scams every week or so. Most of the time they're online. A suspicious email or a fake coupon on Facebook for example. But this one is a little different.

There have been reports of this scam happening across the country and it's not a scam tactic I've ever heard of.

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Most Common Scams in Minnesota

Before we get into this diamond ring scam, there are lots of other scams to be on the look-out for.

Some of the top scams in Minnesota include:

fake coupon scams

IRS and tax scams

in-person sales scams

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travel scams

and fake website scams, just to name a few. You can take a look at all of the top scams in Minnesota at the bottom of this story.

This diamond ring scam is pretty unique, though.

Diamond Ring Scam

The diamond ring scam has been hitting people across the country. Confirmed places where people have been hit by this scam are Alabama, Pittsburgh, and North Carolina.

What happens is people will receive a special package in the mail. When you open it, it looks like you've just received a diamond ring! Amazing!

The letter inside claims that the diamond ring is totally real and you have to register the ring for it's waranty by scanning a QR code. You can probably guess what that QR code does. It allows hackers into your phone where they can take whatever they want.

The ring isn't even a real diamond, either, it's made out of moissanite, which can look very similar to a diamond.

The woman in Alabama received the fake ring after she had been browsing Facebook Marketplace for a ring. The woman in Pittsburgh immediately was suspicious because she doesn't do much online shopping. And the woman in North Carolina actually received two rings a few days apart.

According to the United States Postal Inspection Service, this is called a brushing scam. That's when "a person receives packages or parcels containing various sorts of items which were not ordered or requested by the recipient."

One thing in common between all three of these women is that their rings all came from this person named Cody Polk and came from an address in California. Maybe the scammers have learned not to use that name anymore but at any rate, don't scan QR codes from suspicious mail.