Are QR Codes Safe to Scan?
Scanning a code is just like clicking a link, and scammers have noticed. Learn the risks, and stay covered.
A QR code is simply a link in picture form, so scanning one can take you straight to a fake page just as easily as tapping a bad link. This trick even has a name, quishing, and it has exploded, with KeepNet Labs reporting a rise of more than 587 percent in QR-code scams.
The common ones are stickers placed over real codes on parking meters, fake parcel slips, and emails with a code instead of a button to dodge security filters. Because the web address is hidden inside the image, you often cannot see where it leads until it is too late.
The safe habit is to pause before you act on any code that asks you to pay or sign in, and to be suspicious of a code stuck on top of another. Sorinify checks the destination the moment your phone opens the link, so if a code leads to a fake payment or login page, you see a warning instead.
The code itself is harmless, it is where it sends you that matters.
What you get
- —Checks where a QR code leads before the page loads
- —Stops fake payment and login pages behind codes
- —Spots the parking and parcel sticker scams
- —Works on the links your phone opens from codes