In recent days, stickers with fake QR codes have been found on some parking ticket machines in the city of Chemnitz. This is a scam known as "quishing", in which fraudsters attempt to obtain users' personal data using fake QR codes ("phishing" with QR codes).
According to previous findings, this concerns the QR codes of the operator EasyPark in Chemnitz. Similar incidents have already been reported in other cities.
When scanning the fake QR code attached to the parking ticket machines, those affected are taken to a fake website called "easypark.live". On this page, they are asked to enter credit card details for payment in addition to the parking zone, vehicle licence plate number and the intended parking time. The fraudsters are obviously after this data.
The company EasyPark provides some important tips on how to protect yourself from such attempted fraud. For example, the company states that it never asks users to share passwords or PINs, send bank card details or transfer money. In addition, the genuine QR code of the operator EasyPark leads directly to the app. If users have not installed the app, the QR code redirects them to the app store. Users are explicitly not redirected to a fake website such as "easypark.live".
As a result of this incident, all parking ticket machines in the city of Chemnitz are now checked at regular intervals. In addition, the city of Chemnitz has filed a criminal complaint with the police. Anyone who has scanned such a code and entered data or paid a sum of money is asked to contact the police.
The City of Chemnitz asks all users to check whether the original information sticker or the original QR code for mobile phone parking has been covered over with a smaller QR code before scanning the QR code. In such a suspicious case, this dubious code should not be scanned under any circumstances, but the parking ticket should be purchased with coins as a precaution and the incident reported via the service number indicated on the parking ticket machine.
To protect themselves from such scams, users should install the app beforehand and use the app instead of the QR code to pay the parking fee.
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