You see them in restaurants at stores and even inside churches, but along with their rise in popularity comes a rise in scams.
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7 On Your Side's Nina Pineda joins the Eyewitness News Mornings @ 10 team to talk about what the scams are and how to stay protected.
How to spot QR code scams
QR stands for Quick Response, it's so convenient right, contactless goes right to our credit card what could go wrong?
We are using codes to log onto accounts order food, pay our bills and bad actors are all over this.
Convenience always comes with a price, before you scan, it may be a scam.
The QR codes are ubiquitous, in just a few blocks, Eyewitness News found a code to get a bike, to get gas or load up your gas card, to pay for parking, and even one slapped on a pole for "FREE WEED."
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The first tip is, when you see this, before you scan any codes, look for tampering. Take your finger and see if someone may stuck something on top and that will lead you down a rabbit hole of paying someone else.
You want to examine the web address really carefully, look for typos, or may just one character to be off, that's a sign the codes been compromised. Go directly to the website and compare the addresses, if it's the same, then it's safe to use.
If you have a choice, instead of paying at the parking meter, go pay at the machine. Sometimes that's in the lobby or the hallway and less likely to be tampered with.
If you get a code texted or emailed to you or a postcard shows up, we're hearing about Amazon cards asking you to scan. Stay away, these may seem to come from a friend or your utility. They're going to warn about a few things, always with a sense of urgency.
Delivery delays, account problems, password change, those are all things we are keen to quickly scan to fix in this rush to order gifts, ship gifts and move our money around so be super careful.
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Also don't download apps for QR scanners. Your iPhone has a built in scanner right in the camera feature, so there's no need for that.
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