SCAMMERS are turning a brilliant tool into a lure for victims.
False QR codes designed to trick users into turning over money or installing malware has caught the attention of the FBI.
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Quick response codes, better known as QR codes, were developed in 1994 by a division within the Toyota Motor Company as tool for moderating parts on the assembly line.
The wave of contactless services brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic thrust QR codes front and center at every restaurant, parking meter and ticketed event.
QR codes hit their conversational peak when the cryptocurrency platform Coinbase ran a 60-second Super Bowl ad featuring just a QR code bouncing around the screen – the code was scanned by so many viewers the Coinbase site crashed.
Scammers are taking advantage of QR codes’ commonality by placing them masking them as authentic payment platforms or websites – experts call the deception “quishing“.
Cybernews highlighted examples in Texas and Georgia targeting motorists.
QR codes for parking meters were swapped out with codes that led to copycat websites.
While siphoning payments from unsuspecting motorists is a clever scam unlikely to bankrupt victims, some threats can cut deeper.
“A cybercriminal can swap out a completely innocuous legitimate QR code for one that directs people to a malicious site, and that malicious site may prompt someone to click a link and could potentially download malware onto their device,” an official from the FBI’s Cyber Division told ABC News.
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The Better Business Bureau (BBB), a non-profit organization that focuses on business ethics, lists 95 scam complaints that mention QR codes.
A submission from January 10, 2022 details an individual losing almost $4,000 in a scam that employed a QR code leading to a phony brokerage account.
The BBB advises users to check with the sender to confirm they have deliberately sent a QR code.
More tangibly, the BBB reminds users to keep an eye out for physical tampering – if a sticker has been place over the original QR code then avoid scanning it.
QR codes are reliable and time saving – the most desired of new technologies.
Like emails and even physical mail, it will require a bit of natural skepticism for users to take advantage of the convenience of QR codes without being burned by a scam.
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