Scam Secrets - QR Code Scams
Do you scan QR codes? Since Covid, they've become embedded in many aspects of our lives. But perhaps we're a bit too trusting of them.
On this episode, Shari Vahl, Dr Lis Carter and Alex Wood hear how criminals are finding different ways to exploit those little black and white squares.
Two Scam Secrets listeners give their experience - Les, who scanned a QR code while trying to pay for parking on a trip to the coast - and Keith, who used a QR scanner app he'd downloaded to try to buy a classic car book.
Both of them ended up with criminals taking money from their bank accounts in monthly chunks.
Professor Filipo Sharevski of DePaul University has studied the malicious use of QR codes. He tells Scam Secrets how they're increasingly used in emails to disguise phishing links - a technique known as quishing.
Prof Sharevski also describes his experiments testing the public's willingness to scan QR codes when they're out and about. You might think twice next time you encounter one.
Remember you can get in touch with the programme and tell us about the scame you want us to investigate - scamsecrets@bbc.co.uk
PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL
PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY
Published on Thursday, 27th August 2026.
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