New Scams Tricking Tech-Savvy Montanans

Recently, I visited Seattle and we were looking for a place to park. We ended up in one of the paid lots that require you to put payment in a lockbox because there isn't an attendant. I was surprised because all the signs talked about using an app or a QR code to pay. I had never seen that before.

We did some quick math and figured out it wasn't going to be worth it to park there anyway and ended up just walking the extra blocks.

What I didn't know until now was that I may have narrowly missed falling for a scam.

QR Code Scams

It wouldn't have occurred to me until I saw the video below that using my phone to pay via QR Code at the parking lot in Seattle could have taken me to a website where scammers could steal my information. Here's how they do it:

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A post shared by Jennifer Dove (@techgirljen)

It reminds me of the scams at gas pumps where a false keypad is put over the top of the payment pad. Like they said in the video above, you don't have to stop paying via QR code. Just make sure there isn't a sticker over the code first.

Unfortunately, that's not the only way using QR codes is tricking people into giving their information away. Scammers are also messing around with the holidays! Booo! Safety influencer Dannah Eve describes the problem in her video below:

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A post shared by DANNAH EVE (@dannah_eve)

I could see myself falling for this one, thinking that one of my friends or relatives used a website to ship me a present and the QR code was just part of the gift.

Be on the lookout for stickers placed over the top of QR codes, or QR codes that show up in unusual places, and don't scan them if you see them.