On Sunday I was at the Peace Arch Hospital trying to load the parking app on my phone as it was an app I didn't have and I needed to pay for parking. I already have three parking apps on my phone! I was having problems getting it to work. A lady came up and said "forget the app, it's much faster to pay with your credit card". So I put my credit card in and got my receipt. One thing about using the app is if your parking is about to expire you can extend without going to the pay station.
Then I saw this:
The New Westminster Police Department is warning the public about fraudulent QR codes attached to parking meters throughout the city.
Police have received numerous calls from victims who have scanned the QR codes labelled “scan to pay” on the front of the meters, and were directed to a seemingly legitimate site to enter their credit card information to complete the parking transaction. The victims later noticed that they had large amounts of money withdrawn from their personal bank accounts. One victim had $2,000 withdrawn from their account.
New Westminster Police Department officers are investigating the source of these stickers and encouraging anyone who has used them to pay for parking in the last five days to check their bank accounts and report any suspicious activity to police and their banks.
“Our officers have already removed numerous stickers on meters throughout the city” stated Media Relations Officer Sergeant Andrew Leaver. “We would like to remind the public to be vigilant. While the stickers may appear legitimate, acceptable forms of payment are printed on signs above or on the meter.”
The City of New Westminster does not use QR codes as a payment method for parking. The New Westminster Police Department asks community members to share news of this scam with friends and loved ones.
I wonder if the meter I was trying to scan the QR code to load the app and it wouldn't work was compromised!
