A friend of mine was recently scammed while parking in downtown Anchorage. While parking in a downtown lot, he used the QR code on the sign in the lot to pay his fee. He was in a hurry, so he didn’t notice that the code took him to a fake website. Scammers had pasted an imposter QR code on top of the authentic parking authority sticker. I wasn’t even aware of QR code scams until I heard his story! My friend caught the scam but spent significant time contacting his bank and taking steps to protect his finances and his identity.
QR (quick response) codes are popping up everywhere these days – you see them on TV during commercials, in parking lots, at restaurants, or even for getting into concerts or sporting events. They started out in Japan to keep track of vehicles during manufacturing, but they really took off during the COVID-19 pandemic as a touchless way to share information.
But watch out! Scammers have figured out how to use QR codes to get into your financial and credit card accounts and steal your personal information. They create fake QR codes to redirect you to scam websites where they can swipe your bank details…