This is the best summary I could come up with:
The US Federal Trade Commission has become the latest organization to warn against the growing use of QR codes in scams that attempt to take control of smartphones, make fraudulent charges, or obtain personal information.
The code opens a page on a browser or app of the phone, where the account password is already stored.
Two-factor authentication apps provide a similar flow using QR codes when enrolling a new account.
For more than two years now, parking lot kiosks that allow people to make payments through their phones have been a favorite target.
The scam QR codes lead to look-alike sites that funnel funds to fraudulent accounts rather than the ones controlled by the parking garage.
“A scammer’s QR code could take you to a spoofed site that looks real but isn’t,” the advisory stated.
The original article contains 389 words, the summary contains 135 words. Saved 65%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
scorpionix@feddit.de 1 year ago
So the issue isn’t QR codes, but people being unable to recognize scammers additions to public infrastructure and the websites being scams. Basically, it’s the same principle as scammers sticking an additional device on top of cash machines.
No news here.
RGB3x3@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Okay, but explain to me how you’re supposed to tell the difference between a legitimate QR code and a fake one?
It’s trivially easy to make a mockup of a restaurant’s QR menu so that people scan it when they sit down, expecting to get an online menu.
scorpionix@feddit.de 1 year ago
Is the QR Code applied professionally to the surface, possibly behind some security feature such as glass or another surface finish? Is the menu on the table in the general style of the restaurant, or does it look off or entirely different? Is the QR code applied on top of something else, possible another QR code?
Don’t use apps which directly open QR codes. Any sensible app will tell what the information is before processing it.
And at last, the simplest and most efficient security measure of all: Commonsense. Don’t scan everything you come across. Restaurant menu? Sure. Some random poster out in the woods promising a quick buck, happy time or their like? Hard pass.