Crooks Using Fake QR Codes to Steal Passwords and Money

[Ringel05]

FBI reports cybercrooks are targeting us via the QR codes.

QR codes are useful shortcuts to online resources via a phone's camera, but scammers are now tampering with them to direct victims to phishing pages and cryptocurrency scams. QR or 'Quick Response' codes have been connecting scanners to real-world objects since the 1990s, but got widely adopted during the pandemic as businesses moved to contactless communication and payments via QR codes on restaurant menus, parking meters and other public spaces.
But scammers are now targeting the QR code's increased familiarity by tampering with the pixelated barcodes and redirecting victims to sites that steal logins and financial information, according to an FBI alert.

For those who don't know what QR codes are:

FBI warning: Crooks are using fake QR codes to steal your passwords and money | ZDNet

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Interesting.
Most QR Codes are simply hyperlinks a phone can recognize so you don't have to type it in.
We put QR Codes and even variable data ones on products all the time.
Smart criminal to use it this way. People trust technology way too much. I can see people seeing a QR code and scan it just to see what it is, unaware that it links to a scam page.

 

[Turtlesoup]

FBI reports cybercrooks are targeting us via the QR codes.

QR codes are useful shortcuts to online resources via a phone's camera, but scammers are now tampering with them to direct victims to phishing pages and cryptocurrency scams. QR or 'Quick Response' codes have been connecting scanners to real-world objects since the 1990s, but got widely adopted during the pandemic as businesses moved to contactless communication and payments via QR codes on restaurant menus, parking meters and other public spaces.
But scammers are now targeting the QR code's increased familiarity by tampering with the pixelated barcodes and redirecting victims to sites that steal logins and financial information, according to an FBI alert.

For those who don't know what QR codes are:

FBI warning: Crooks are using fake QR codes to steal your passwords and money | ZDNet

So glad that I suck at technology and don't use phones for scanners.

 

[Ringel05]

Interesting.
Most QR Codes are simply hyperlinks a phone can recognize so you don't have to type it in.
We put QR Codes and even variable data ones on products all the time.
Smart criminal to use it this way. People trust technology way too much. I can see people seeing a QR code and scan it just to see what it is, unaware that it links to a scam page.

I only use them if I know for a fact who they're from.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I only use them if I know for a fact who they're from.

Phones are waaaaaaaay to damn unsecure. Unbelievably unsecure.
Right now there are numerous websites that use your phone to track where you are... most large retailers do. Like Lowes for instance, which is very convenient. You are standing in the store and it recognizes you are in "Lowes #12769" and will direct you straight to a product you are looking for. Cool!
Now it isn't hard to imagine what an unscrupulous character could do with that.

 

[Ringel05]

Phones are waaaaaaaay to damn unsecure. Unbelievably unsecure.
Right now there are numerous websites that use your phone to track where you are... most large retailers do. Like Lowes for instance, which is very convenient. You are standing in the store and it recognizes you are in "Lowes #12769" and will direct you straight to a product you are looking for. Cool!
Now it isn't hard to imagine what an unscrupulous character could do with that.

Oh yeah, I know. I have that tracking feature turned off on my iPhone and I opt out of all data collection. Well most data collection........ You know what I mean.

 

[badger2]

Nanotech will not be deactivated if the smash-and-grab baboon has not paid for the merchandise. GPS can track it back to its lair, rendering smash-and-grab obsolete.

 

[badger2]

Because the GPS signal can be tampered with, cameras at the location of the violence must be made continuous and not allow the baboon to go off-camera as the technology gets streamlined. This Is the weak spot of the nanotech-video combination, though should also help to protect other Homo sapiens not involved in the violence.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Nanotech will not be deactivated if the smash-and-grab baboon has not paid for the merchandise. GPS can track it back to its lair, rendering smash-and-grab obsolete.

For sure. On a tech forum I use to go to that is populated by mainly Sys Admins and geeks, there was a discussion on this several years ago. Technology in law enforcement will eventually lead to crime being practically impossible to commit. At some point there will be some massive terror attack that will make 9/11 look like a blip.
The government will use the fear from it to create a GPS system that tracks everyone.
And we will eventually get CCTV like Britain also, imagine a system that uses both technology. The government could not only immediately locate someone, but probably be able to watch them if they go anywhere.

 

[badger2]

So as with the girl in California and Lowe's Home Depot, entry to the merchandise is not possible without havingthe living presence somehow recorded, though not necessarily identified.

 

[badger2]

For sure. On a tech forum I use to go to that is populated by mainly Sys Admins and geeks, there was a discussion on this several years ago. Technology in law enforcement will eventually lead to crime being practically impossible to commit. At some point there will be some massive terror attack that will make 9/11 look like a blip.
The government will use the fear from it to create a GPS system that tracks everyone.
And we will eventually get CCTV like Britain also, imagine a system that uses both technology. The government could not only immediately locate someone, but probably be able to watch them if they go anywhere.

You don't claim enough rights for yourself, namely the right to contradict yourself. Violence can be vetted and bred out of the organism (ex., education). Your argument presupposes that the perpetuation of this violence is irreconcilable. If there were a second earth to choose from, arguments for dividing America would look much less absurd, because the organisms going there would be, for certain, pre-vetted.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

You don't claim enough rights for yourself, namely the right to contradict yourself. Violence can be vetted and bred out of the organism (ex., education). Your argument presupposes that the perpetuation of this violence is irreconcilable. If there were a second earth to choose from, arguments for dividing America would look much less absurd, because the organisms going there would be, for certain, pre-vetted.

Uh... okay...

 

[Ringel05]

Uh... okay...

That's appropriate.......

 

[Captain Caveman]

FBI reports cybercrooks are targeting us via the QR codes.

QR codes are useful shortcuts to online resources via a phone's camera, but scammers are now tampering with them to direct victims to phishing pages and cryptocurrency scams. QR or 'Quick Response' codes have been connecting scanners to real-world objects since the 1990s, but got widely adopted during the pandemic as businesses moved to contactless communication and payments via QR codes on restaurant menus, parking meters and other public spaces.
But scammers are now targeting the QR code's increased familiarity by tampering with the pixelated barcodes and redirecting victims to sites that steal logins and financial information, according to an FBI alert.

For those who don't know what QR codes are:

FBI warning: Crooks are using fake QR codes to steal your passwords and money | ZDNet

Not from me, never use them.