FBI Warns Of 'Widespread' QR Code Scams By Cybercriminals To Steal Your Money

bigredfish

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CCTVCam

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Happened in the UK a lot. The UK used them for car parking putting them on the side of machines, and criminals made stickers and put them over the official ones to steal people's bank data. My advice, is never use a public QR code.


 

Oldtechguy66

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Went into a supposed nice restaurant. Was seated, and asked what we would like. I said well, a menu would be a nice start. Waiter - sorry - waitperson - points to the QR code affixed to a plaque on the table.
I said No printed menu's?
Online sir.
Ok, what's the website URL?
Just scan the QR code sir.
Nope. Not happening. What if someone arrives sans cellphone? You deny them service? OK, never mind. We'll go elsewhere.
Oh wait sir, I can get printed menus for you.....
Well, imagine that... :wow:

I was told the restaurant stopped handing out menus due to covid and sanitary considerations. BS. It's more convenient for the restaurant, and who knows what the QR code will point to. Now places want you to scan & order online while sitting in the restaurant?
NUTS!!!
 

mat200

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Went into a supposed nice restaurant. Was seated, and asked what we would like. I said well, a menu would be a nice start. Waiter - sorry - waitperson - points to the QR code affixed to a plaque on the table.
I said No printed menu's?
Online sir.
Ok, what's the website URL?
Just scan the QR code sir.
Nope. Not happening. What if someone arrives sans cellphone? You deny them service? OK, never mind. We'll go elsewhere.
Oh wait sir, I can get printed menus for you.....
Well, imagine that... :wow:

I was told the restaurant stopped handing out menus due to covid and sanitary considerations. BS. It's more convenient for the restaurant, and who knows what the QR code will point to. Now places want you to scan & order online while sitting in the restaurant?
NUTS!!!
Just wait for self checkout to be added ..

That will be a 20% tip also ..
 

tigerwillow1

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I'm finding it more and more difficult to survive in this world without a smartphone. More and more outfits like financial institutions, web sites, and medical providers insist on using text messages, and assume everybody has the capability. A lot of text messages meet their death on the way to my landline phone.
 

tangent

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Don't your phones tell you the URL before going to a QR code destination??
Most do, but sometimes it's to a URL shortener that provides analytics. Fun way to get rickrolled or redirected to some malware.

The issue is more whether people can tell the difference between things like parkinglot-slumlord.cc/location/d3456 and parkinglot-slumloard.cc.nl/location/d3456 or even be sure which is legit (if their phones even display the full link).

Odds are you might be able to identify a scam if you came across it, but could your parents (assuming they can scan a qr code)?
 
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IAmATeaf

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Went into a supposed nice restaurant. Was seated, and asked what we would like. I said well, a menu would be a nice start. Waiter - sorry - waitperson - points to the QR code affixed to a plaque on the table.
I said No printed menu's?
Online sir.
Ok, what's the website URL?
Just scan the QR code sir.
Nope. Not happening. What if someone arrives sans cellphone? You deny them service? OK, never mind. We'll go elsewhere.
Oh wait sir, I can get printed menus for you.....
Well, imagine that... :wow:

I was told the restaurant stopped handing out menus due to covid and sanitary considerations. BS. It's more convenient for the restaurant, and who knows what the QR code will point to. Now places want you to scan & order online while sitting in the restaurant?
NUTS!!!
I’m in India right now and had a similar experience. Went to a restaurant that we have been many times before, asked for the menu and got pointed to something on the with a QR code. Now the other people with didn’t have a clue what to do, again we asked, in the end I scanned it, checked the site it was going to open, then typed the site in myself.

We then had a 10 minute discussion about what happens if I had not been there, no food I guess
 

Oldtechguy66

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I'm finding it more and more difficult to survive in this world without a smartphone. More and more outfits like financial institutions, web sites, and medical providers insist on using text messages, and assume everybody has the capability. A lot of text messages meet their death on the way to my landline phone.
So true!
Had a run-around with a 3 letter alphabet-mafia US govt agency/website. They had my home-office/landline tel #s in their files, and insisted that I could ONLY verify my identity via a text code sent to my home phone. When I attempted to enter in my cell #, the omnipotent govt database said no such # or account exists. Funny, I get a bill from my wireless provider every month. Took months to fix the mess, eventually having to video chat with a 3rd party private govt service subcontractor which managed to straighten out months of furballed comms attempts in 2 minutes. Of course, the video chat had to be over a smartphone, and I had to D/L an app, grant privileges to everything under the sun, call a number, get in the phone queue for hours, then hope my internet didn't go down during the video chat. When I questioned how is someone without access to a host of smart devices and high speed internet supposed to contact the govt since everything is mobile app based these days (as if mobile devices are somehow inherently more secure)? All I got in response was a run around no-answer answer... The govt acts as if everybody in the world is attached at their umbilcal cord to fiber optic cable and has a mobile media server embedded in their cranium. It's now beyond absurd, and zipping right past idiotic; and in some kind of a big hurry.
Yesterday, sitting in the exam room in doctor's office. I get not one text, but a BATCH of texts and emails from the medical group. They wanted me to confirm my appointment (hello, I just checked in at front desk), fill out some forms (already pre-registered online before going), notifiy me of what the Dr just told me, and ask my opinion on how things were going... all before I walked out of the exam room. Wonder what they'd say if I walked in wearing a tin foil suit, and kept repeating RFI bad RFI bad RFI bad RFI bad... ;) It all confirms what will happen when the next great Carrington event strikes... OH NO, my cell doesn't work. Use what, paper and pen? What's that??? :rolleyes:
 

IAmATeaf

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The world is going mad, here in India a username and password is no longer considered safe, everything now involves a mobile phone. It’s completely crazy, to check and pay my electricity bill I need a working local SIM that I have to get registered by “popping” into their offices!

Used to previously just sign in using a username and password, they somehow think this is progress, can’t wait for the inevitable copied SIMs and people then getting their bank accounts emptied.
 

Oldtechguy66

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The world is going mad, here in India ... { - } ...can’t wait for the inevitable copied SIMs and people then getting their bank accounts emptied.
Precisely! Why is it every time I have to deal with a govt agency, medical bureaucracy, insurance company, or any corporate globalist entity, the first thing they do is tell how much they respect my privacy - by forcing me to agree with T&C which essentially completely dispense with any privacy rights whatsoever? Every time I get yet another statement in the mail from some company telling me they have had a "possible security breach" that "may affect your personal information ", the first thing they say is how much they respect my privacy...then proceed to inform me that that right isn't guaranteed, and sometimes things happen...so I'm supposed to give their "trusted business partner" all my personal info, so they can watch out for my privacy? That is not only the dumbest thing I've heard, aside from the steady stream of BS from politicians; but the articulation of insanity.
Sorry... ** end rant ** :banghead:
 
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