Are QR Payment Codes Safe? FBI Says No, And Issues Warning
From paying for snacks at the deli to putting gas in the car, millions of people use QRs when the time comes to pay, but how safe are they? QR, which stands for Quick Response, are contactless merchant payment systems. Users make electronic payments by scanning a QR using a smartphone application or digital wallet.
QR payments have become mainstream and are today used massively around the world. But QR technology is not new. They first appeared about a decade ago. Advancements made in digital financial services and the embracement of smartphone technology equipped with cameras to scan QRs drove their growth. In addition, recent changes in consumer behavior, and the pandemic, accelerated all digital and contactless forms of payments.
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How safe are QR payments? The FBI says that while QR codes are not malicious, it is crucial to practice caution when using them. The FBI recently issued a warning due to increased cybercriminal activity related to malicious QRs. Both digital and physical QR codes are being tempered. Cybercriminals are getting creative. Some affected QR codes will redirect the victim’s payments, while others are more intrusive and access a device. QRs have also been modified to gain sensitive personal data and financial information.
The majority of cybercriminals, hacking, phishing and other forms of digital attacks require the victim to interact in some way with a malicious action. Unfortunately, QR presents the perfect opportunity to do this. While you might think it is unlikely that your neighborhood coffee shop will have its QR hacked, the truth is QRs are everywhere. Sometimes QRs are found in large areas with little supervision,
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