Quick Response codes or QR codes have been around since 1994, but they have become much more popular in recent years and can be commonly found on parking meters, in restaurants and in advertising.  When you scan a QR code with your phone, it will take you to a website.  Unfortunately as the popularity of QR codes has increased with the public, its popularity has also increased with scammers who are setting up phony QR codes to lure you to their bogus website where they solicit personal information used for identity theft or persuade you to make a payment with a credit card or even in some instances, merely by scanning the phony QR code, you will download harmful malware such as ransomware or even malware that will enable the scammer to take over your email account.  I have written about QR code scams called “quishing” since 2021.

I have written in the past about a variety of QR code scams, but a new one that has recently surfaced is a variation on the brushing scam.  Brushing occurs when online vendors send mechandise to people that they haven’t ordered and then use that person’s information to post positive reviews of the product.  However, in the new QR code version of brushing, the targeted victim receives a package containing unordered merchandise without any sender information, but with a QR code that unwary victims will scan and either unwittingly download malware that can steal sensitive information from your cell phone or take you to a website where you are prompted to provide personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identiyt theft.

TIPS

As I often say, “trust me, you can’t trust anyone.” If you receive such a package with no sender information, but merely a QR code, it is a scam and you should not scan the QR code.

Finally, there are companies  that have free QR code scanner apps that will not only scan the QR code, but also let you know if it is legitimate and prevent the downloading of malware from bogus QR codes.

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