DRIVERS have been issued an urgent warning over fake parking QR codes that could leave you out of pocket.
Bogus stickers on car park payment machines are fooling innocent customers into sending criminals their bank account details.
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The scam posters and stickers masquerade as ads for genuine parking apps for motorists.
However, anyone who scans the square bar code on their phone or visits the website address is instead directed to an internet site or app run by scammers.
And instead of making a parking payment to a legitimate company, the driver will instead have handed over details of their bank account.
Over the next few days, the fraudsters will withdraw small sums of money, typically below £50, hoping the victim does not notice, reports The Times.
Maria Grasso, 67, fell for a fake parking website advertised on a poster at Upper Warlingham railway station car park in Surrey.
The Parish councillor had saw a sign saying she had to download an app to pay for parking.
After checking whether she could pay directly she put in her card details and went to catch the train.
But she soon received a text from a company called Mediacraze.com, telling her she had signed up for a media streaming service.
Maria rang a phone number listed on the website to cancel but it was dead before realising she had been scammed.
Luckily she managed to spot the fraud quickly and rang her bank to report the fraud and cancel her debit card.
Maria said: “I was really annoyed with myself for not checking the website more carefully.
“Fortunately, I was quick enough to notice and stop it — but it could have been a lot worse.
“The criminals are very clever. They only take a small amount of money each month, and if you’re not the sort of person who religiously checks their account, this can go unnoticed for a very long time.”
Other drivers have reported having payments taken from their accounts over a period of weeks before noticing they had been a victim of fraud.
Councils have been scrapping archaic pay and display meters in favour of ‘pay by app’ systems this year.
The move away from cash and card payments has been accelerated by mobile phone providers switching off 3G data networks, on which some parking machines operate.
Experts are concerned this could be leaving drivers vulnerable to scammers.
Ian Taylor, director of the Alliance of British Drivers consumer body, said: “Parking is becoming not just overpriced and difficult to operate — and in some places in short supply — but now at risk from crime too.
“It also highlights once again the need to stop being so reliant on apps. At the very least, credit or debit card payment should be available as well.”
While Peter O’Driscoll, managing director of the parking payment app RingGo, said: “We have noticed that consumers are now bombarded by fraud threats both online and in person.
“Recent scams involving false QR codes on pay-and-display machines are one of the latest attempts by criminals to dupe unsuspecting drivers.”
Action Fraud says drivers should be wary if a QR code takes them to a site that asks for personal information, login details or payment.
A spokesman for Apcoa Parking, which operates Upper Warlingham station car park, said the premises had been inspected and no evidence of a poster was found.
He added that the incident had been investigated and the company would be happy to discuss the incident in more detail with Maria.
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