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Modern parking lots always seem ripe for physical phishing, whats stopping someone from sticking up a couple of QR codes that link to a fraudulent payment page
by burcs 3y ago
Modern parking lots always seem ripe for physical phishing, whats stopping someone from sticking up a couple of QR codes that link to a fraudulent payment page or some other malware?
This is one of those things that tech really didn't "fix" and now I have to select from one of 20 apps instead of just paying with cash or even a credit card.
- Hnaomyiph 3y agoSeems like a good avenue for parking protests. All you need is a small buzz for people to never trust the app-based systems.
- 6177c40f 3y agoOne would think this would happen pretty often, but at least my cursory search didn't turn up many specific examples of it happening in the US. I wonder why that is?
- throwawaysleep 3y agoA lot more work when there are an abundance of gullible people via email.
- ge96 3y agoI paid this booth last night, wasn't even sure if they were legit
- ocdtrekkie 3y agoThis is a well-known problem at more than just parking lots. Any proprietor using QR codes in their place of business should generally be policing the property for rogue stickers. Obviously, quality of the business matters here a lot for that.
- ivan_gammel 3y agoFix: “using QR codes” is unnecessary. Just every business with public access to the property. Customers of a business not using QR codes are vulnerable to the same scam.
- thechao 3y agoI have, on multiple occasions (in Austin, >10 years ago), paid for parking to an "attendant" at a lot I know is free. Those guys will just have your car towed — the whole scam just hangs together: the towing company charges you for the storage & processing, but not the nominal fee; the attendant gets cash. Win-win-lose.
- kortilla 3y agoHow can they have it towed if it’s free. That’s just theft.
- asah 3y agoTowing companies enjoy special privileges and presumed innocent, e.g. no penalties for "towing the wrong car."
- jakelazaroff 3y agoI mean, everyone is (supposed to be) presumed innocent. But point taken about the special privileges.
- WirelessGigabit 3y agoIt approaches qualified immunity. Consider an AWD BMW without badges. If it's a 3 series or above all you know is that it's either RWD or AWD. If they tow it by the rear wheels you blow up your transfer case. But try and prove that it was THAT action that blew it up.
- ciupicri 3y agoThe proper way to deal with this is to lift the car using a crane and put it on a platform like this https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/seeligstadt-germany-april-08-2016-man-407622505 https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/seeligstadt-germany...
- nikanj 3y agoCall your buddy at the towing company, give them $20 cash. Criminals are quite efficient at getting things done
- toomuchtodo 3y agoAlready a thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDLw1XDMJkk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDLw1XDMJkk https://ktla.com/morning-news/technology/scammers-use-fake-parking-qr-codes-to-steal-your-cash/ https://ktla.com/morning-news/technology/scammers-use-fake-p...
- sixstringtheory 3y ago> This is one of those things that tech really didn't "fix" It solved a very real problem of surveillance/advertising and skimming a little cream off the top in the process
- 13of40 3y agoWhat it's ripe for is for someone to put up a box that accepts cash and credit cards then works as a proxy to one of the other services.
- idle_zealot 3y agoOf course! The solution to this state of affairs is to add yet another middleman.
- supertrope 3y agoParking provided by TicketMaster.
- supertrope 3y agoNothing. But you the customer are burdened with this fraud risk so the business does not care since it’s not their problem.
- entropy273 3y agoI was a mobile developer on a parking app, and this is a serious issue. Our solution was to add a button in the app to verify if a QR code is valid, but I was always bothered by how tucked away the actual button was.