Scammers Are Using Fake QR Codes On Parking Meters To Steal Your Card Info

Photo: Logan K. Carter

Ever since the advent of the internet there have been a litany of new and creative ways for folks to scam the crap out of blissfully ignorant citizens. The latest scam tactic is taking over our parking meters. Scammers in Southern California are placing their own QR codes over the legit ones used by cities to allow folks to pay for parking in an admittedly smart new method of stealing peoples credit card info. Some regions use a mobile payment system for paid parking via companies like PayByPhone and ParkMobile, but if you are about to pay for parking via a QR code, there are ways to spot a potential scam.

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The FBI said that Americans lost more than $150 million due to fraudulent QR codes last year. According to ABC7 Los Angeles, the city of Redondo Beach said it found nearly 150 fake QR codes stuck to parking meters along the Esplanade and Riviera Village areas. These fake codes were glued next to the real parking payment labels, making them incredibly convincing. The fake QR codes send users to sites with URLs that are alarmingly close to the real URLs used to pay, with one example sending folks to “poybyphone” instead of “paybyphone.” ABC7 reported,

Vance Ingmanson was in San Clemente when he saw a sign with a QR code and a website to pay for parking.

“We punched in the URL. The URL – the first five on the Google search were fakes,” he recalled. “It was a scam. It has the logo. It says ‘passport parking.’”

Ingmanson was trying to park his car. A few minutes later he knew something was wrong.

“I put in my credit card number,” he said. “[My wife’s] credit card company, about two minutes after I put in my information, called her and said ‘We have unauthorized charges here.”

To avoid falling for this scam, the FTC says if you do use a QR code to pay for parking, closely examine the URL of any website the code sends you to. If you notice any switched letters, erroneous letters, or misspellings, don’t input any credit card information. Be aware of this scam, and proceed with caution whenever entering your credit card information online. This makes me feel better about my own irrational hatred of paying for parking spots. You can almost always find a free spot near your destination which saves a few bucks and now could save your credit card info from being stolen.