Parking meters have become easier to use as cities and private lots embrace apps, contactless payments, and QR codes, but that convenience has created an opening for scammers. Criminals can place their own QR code stickers over legitimate codes or position them where drivers naturally expect payment instructions to appear.
A parking meter QR code scam can send you to a convincing website that collects your credit card information while making you believe you just paid for parking. The danger is easy to miss because a QR code gives you little information about its destination until your phone reads it. Taking 20 seconds to inspect the code, website, and payment instructions could prevent a much more expensive problem.
