QR codes are everywhere these days, which means so are the scams! Sisanie and Seacrest shared on-air be aware of the below QR scams people have been reporting recently:
PARKING METERS
Many meters already have QR codes on them. You scan them and pay on the city’s web site. But scammers put stickers with DIFFERENT codes on top of the legit ones and take you to a site that looks like the city’s web site and you have no idea you’re not paying the city.
PARKING TICKETS
Same idea: Scammers are putting fake parking tickets on cars with a QR code you can scan to pay or dispute the ticket. Since the driver did nothing wrong, they scan it to dispute the ticket, but it takes you to the scammers’ web site, where they ask you to pay 60 bucks.
RESTAURANTS
They’ll put a sticker with their QR code over the restaurants QR code and you’ll end up at a site that puts malware on your phone so they can access your personal information. They may even send you to the restaurant’s menu after so you have no idea what just happened.
So, what can you do?
Look for stickers placed over other QR codes and check out the URL before you click on it.