08/02/2024
Gone are the days when you need spare change on hand for the car park machine – instead an app, or a link to a payment website, lets you sort parking charges instantly via your smartphone.
But drivers across the UK are being caught out by bogus links to fake websites – run by fraudsters, they’ll request your card details to make a payment and then use them to spend money from your account.
These scams are run using QR (quick response) codes, which are little black and white grids of pixels that look a touch like barcodes. Scanning these with a smartphone camera should take you through to a legitimate payment website - but now identical-looking stickers are being placed over the genuine QR code, redirecting you to more nefarious destinations online.
Action Fraud told Saga Money that there were 651 reports of QR code scams last year, and parking app operators RingGo and paybyphone have both issued warnings to customers over the dangers posed – so it’s worth staying vigilant.
