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If you are familiar with the company who is sharing the QR code, and the flier or piece of promotional material carrying the code looks legitimate, you can generally feel safe performing a scan. Given the apparent inability for you to discern between which QR codes are safe, and which are not, there are certain precautions that should be taken prior to scanning that little 2-D box: According to CSO Online, some malicious QR codes can even enable a hacker to control mobile phones to access your messages and GPS location-tracking data, turn on your camera, and listen in on phone conversations.

When the website loads, the JavaScript automatically runs, infiltrating your system and embedding the Trojan which can then work to leach your data and send it back to the hackers for oftentimes illegal use. Then, once the code is created, the scammer can print some flyers or stickers-even paste the new QR code over another company’s legitimate one-to lure in unsuspecting victims.Ī common tactic for QR code scammers is to point the victim to a website that contains a Javascript Trojan. All a scammer has to do is insert a link to their malware-laden site or app. And then viola, you have yourself a QR code that you can save as an image, possibly to print out for later, send in an email, add to your blog or any other number of uses. Smartphone users, it’s even easier for you, as any number of QR scanner mobile apps also have this create-your-own-code function. All you need to do is visit any number of free websites that allow for the creation of these codes, enter your intended information (a website, application, virtual business card, GPS map location, or image link) for the code to point to. Simply put, there is a component of blind trust involved, and cybercriminals are beginning to take advantage of this aspect.Īnyone can create a QR code in roughly 30 seconds.

In this regard, it’s different from clicking on a link or manually typing a URL into your Internet browser. Until your QR code reader redirects you to the intended destination, you are in the dark about what that destination will be. The problem with such simple access to information through QR codes is precisely what makes them so much fun – the element of surprise. By placing QR codes on company promotional material, advertisers are able to direct the user to a website or video, enable them to enter an online contest, or even download an app – simply with the scan of a code. And with the rise of smartphone ownership, users now have the ability to scan these codes, giving companies additional incentive to use them in more creative and visible manners. Recently, QR codes have become more commonplace, found in advertisements, on retail items, and a slew of other fun and functional uses that we might not even notice. This means that they can store data both horizontally and vertically, giving them the ability to store more than 100 times the amount of information as a conventional barcode. Unlike conventional barcodes, QR codes are two-dimensional. Used mostly for advertising and promotional campaigns until recently, new research shows that these seemingly harmless square graphics, while fun to scan and follow, may bring about more harm than good.Ī close cousin to the more traditional UPC “barcode,” the QR code first came into existence in Japan in 1994, as a means of quickly tracking automotive vehicles during the manufacturing process. Some can even be viewed from Google Maps, painted on the roofs of office buildings. One of the latest trends in consumer advertising, QR codes (short for “Quick Response”) are popping up on everything from billboard advertisements to restaurant menus, business cards and cereal boxes. What is square, flat, and black and white all over? If you answered “a QR Code”, you’re correct.