Warning issued after woman scammed with fake QR code in Leicester

A woman has fallen victim to a growing QR code scam in Leicester. Drivers across the country are affected, with a warning now issued.

Tina Sheppard is the latest in a long line of drivers to have been caught out when she tried to pay for parking in Leicester using a QR code. However, the code Tina used was fake and instead directed her to the fraudulent payment website, Derbyshire Live.

She said: “The code looked completely genuine. I was at a business event and to be honest my biggest concern was that it was dark and I wanted to get safely to the hotel where I was leaving my luggage.”

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The scam involves fraudsters replacing legitimate QR codes on parking payment panels with their own codes. He fooled many, Tina being among those fooled by the scammers.

She said: “I tried to download the parking app from the parking board and it redirected me to a website instead. It looked completely genuine and after entering my card details on the site it crashed. I actually called my husband to help me remotely. and he was able to help me from home, then the bank contacted me to ask if I really bought from the site, and thinking there was no problem, I said yes.

“The problem started when I entered my details on the site and it timed out (I think) then I started noticing payments coming out of my account. It started with sums of less than £1 and grew to around £80 afterwards. the bank was amazing and luckily we got all the money back.”

Some victims, however, were not as lucky as Tina and were defrauded of substantial sums. A woman in the North East of England was conned out of £13,000 in the scam.

Now Castle Donington-based IT firm True MSP has issued a warning to all drivers as the scam continues to claim victims. Neil Shaw, director of the company, said: “This is the latest in a long line of scams targeting different sectors of the community. This time, it’s the drivers who are at risk and it’s easy to be fooled.

“QR codes are a blessing and a curse. They’re a fantastic way to quickly get to websites, apps or data when used correctly, but the user has no way of knowing where they’re being directed until they’ve scanned the code, by which time it’s too late, purely and you just can’t do due diligence like you would with a clear web address.”

Mr Shaw urged drivers to think carefully when they are around a QR code in a public place. He said: “If you are in an open or public space where the code could have been modified, or if you are not 100% sure where the code came from, please be vigilant and please do not click.

“If you’re on a password-protected site, perhaps your bank, and you’ve already used your password to log in, then you’re safe to click. Unfortunately, outside of a secure site, there’s only one thing the public can do to protect their hard-earned money from a QR code scam, and that’s not to scan the code.”

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