Cities in Texas hit by QR-code phishing scam

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By Shourjya Mookerjee

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Austin, Houston and San Antonio have been affected by a phishing scam designed to get users to pay for parking using fraudulent QR codes pasted on public meters.

Some Texas cities have been hit with a phishing scam designed to get users to pay for parking through fraudulent QR code stickers on public parking meters. Officials say the codes have already been discovered in Austin, Houston and San Antonio.

In all three cases, the cities do not use QR, or quick response, codes to link users to their parking payment system; meter payment can only be made through coins, cards or a ParkMobile smartphone app. With the falsified codes, hackers are redirecting unsuspecting users to a website where they are prompted to enter sensitive financial information under the guise of paying for the parking session.

In late December, officials found that more than 100 stations had been stickered with these false codes in San Antonio, Austin's Parking Enterprise Manager Jason Redfern told Fox 7.

"We've talked to industry professionals who have warned us about using QR codes, and that's why we do not utilize QR codes on our infrastructure at all," he said.

Over the New Year's weekend, fake QR code stickers were found on 29 meters across Austin, according to the city's Transportation Department.

The scam is not expected to drain individuals’ bank accounts of all money, but instead reroute the parking payment to another location, San Antonio Police Department’s Lt. Marcus Booth told the press in December. The scheme also diverts the payments to the scammer, rather than to the city.

The Austin Transportation Department is telling all residents affected by a credit card breach due to recent parking meter payments to file a police report, notify their card issuer immediately and contest any parking tickets related to the affected meters.

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