Careful with QR Codes

At one point it didn't look like QR Codes were going to catch on, in Spain at least, but then came the pandemic and restaurant menus... But there's a darker side.

SPN Scanning a QR CodeYes, when menus disappeared from restaurant tables (along with serviettes, salt & pepper, etc) they were replaced by a QR code which diners could access and read what the eating house had on offer – paper menus went digital.

However, with every advance, there are those that want to take advantage of it to fleece the unwary and what better way than a QR code that leads you to a bogus site that solicits your personal data or prompts you to download a file?

We’ve had Phishing, Smishing, Vising, Pharming and now we’ve got Qrishing – you can be forgiven for thinking that whoever invents these words is dyslectic…

But don’t panic, this is not going to happen in a restaurant, so unless you’re hooked on scanning every QR code you come across, you have nothing to worry about.

The Instituto de Nacional de Ciberseguridad recommends the following in order to avoid falling into the clutches of the digitally nefarious:

A) If you use an online source to generate QR codes for your own business, make sure it’s a bona-fide one.

B) Deactivate your phone’s QR scanner so that it does not automatically open the destination of the QR code scanned.

The fact is that the percentage of dodgy QR codes out there very small; minute even, but perhaps it is better to be safe than sorry, even if it does mean having to do things manually each time.

(News: Spain)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *