How to use QR Codes and Best Practices to avoid QR code scams
(Representative image) Photo by tulu tezcan
When travelling, you may come across QR Codes at various places such as highways, railway stations, hotels, restaurants, or at any tourism places of interest, whether it be for accessing some information or making a payment.
Whether you're travelling or otherwise, you'd commonly come across QR Codes for payments at a lot of places these days. While being a very convenient tool for making payments with ease by using payment apps such as Google Pay, PayTM etc., or for quickly accessing some kind of information, they may also pose a significant risk if unchecked.
Here are a few tips and best practices to stay safe when using QR Codes for payments.
How to Scan and Use QR Codes?
To scan a QR code when making payment using payment apps such as Google Pay, PayTM etc., you'll need to look at the QR code scanning option in those apps and then point your device towards the QR code such that you see the QR code on your phone's screen within the app.
To scan a QR code for any other purposes, such as, when scanning a QR code along a highway or at any travel or tourism places of interest for information, you'll have to open your smartphone's camera app and point it at the QR code. A notification or a link (URL) will then appear on your device's screen, which you have to tap to access the information.
A URL is a web address that links to a web page on a website or may lead to an app on an app store. It's better if you know about web domains, web addresses or URLs as it will help you how to identify fake ones.
In case of older phones or older version of operating system or apps where a built-in camera doesn't have the feature of scanning QR codes, you may either need to enable the feature in your camera's settings or add a QR scanner to your device's settings. In case if none of that works for you, you may need to use a third-party app which works as a QR code scanner, such as Google Lens, for example.
It is always better to use a QR scanner that is already built-in to your device's camera app, if it has one, than using any third-party app for it.
Be Careful with QR Codes
While QR Codes can be handy and useful, you need to be careful when using them and beware of fake QR codes, or a scam called "quishing" or "QR phishing", which may lead you to malicious websites that may steal your personal and financial data or install malware on your device.
"Quishing" or "QR phishing", is a scam where scammers use fake or malicious QR codes to trick you into visiting fake websites, stealing your login details, or downloading malware on your device.
Scammers may embed such malicious QR codes as regular images inside emails or PDFs, or within phishing messages via messaging apps such as WhatsApp. Beware of unsolicited emails or messages that you may receive that may try to entice you with fake offers or benefits. Sometimes, even a person known by you may unknowingly forward such a scam message or email.
Fraudsters may place fake QR stickers over real codes at public places such as shops, restaurant menus, or on signboards or facilities along highways, railway stations, airports, etc.
Clicking or tapping on links from such malicious QR codes may lead you to fraudulent websites or apps that may capture your login credentials, your credit or debit card details, or download malware on your phone without your knowledge.
Few Tips to Stay Safe when using QR Codes
- To stay safe, always inspect the QR code for tampering, and verify the destination URL (link) before tapping or opening them. Look closely for any spelling mistakes in the website or brand's name or its web address or web domain structure.
- Avoid scanning unsolicited QR codes from public areas.
- Use only built-in app or functionality in your phone or a reputed and trusted QR code reader app, and keep your phone's software updated.
- Always use a QR scanner which shows you a URL preview. Most smartphone QR scanners nowadays provide a preview of the destination URL before you open it. If the URL looks suspicious or doesn't match the expected source, then don't proceed to use it.
- When scanning a QR code for payment at a shop or service, do cross-check that the id, name, or number of the shop or shopkeeper is the same as the one that appears on your payment app screen when you scan it.
- Verify and confirm with the shopkeeper or service that the name / id / or number, which appears on your screen when you've scanned the QR code, belongs to them.
- Beware and Watch Out for Tampered QR Code stickers that might cover legitimate QR codes, especially in public areas. Check closely to see if it has been taped or stuck over an existing QR code.
Apart from QR code scams, travellers and tourists need to beware of other types of scams that target them, such as phishing scams and fake rentals or fake hotel listings, etc.
With the advancement of technology and the ease it brings to travelling, it also unfortunately opens doors for scammers with more ways to defraud people.
It is always better to beware and stay safe than to regret later. As the the old proverb goes, it's "better safe than sorry".