A $10,000 QR Code Scam Hits a Calgary Family

A family from Calgary, who was already having trouble paying their high cost of living, is now having trouble getting their money back after being the target of a recent internet scam that uses a QR code.

Recently, Amalyn Cooke posted a stroller on Facebook Marketplace for sale. A man answered, asking if he could hold it for half the asking amount. 

Then he seemed to send her an Interac e-transfer that had a QR code. He instructed her to scan the code for her to receive the payment.

When Cooke did, she claimed the code sent her to a website that seemed to be her bank's.

QR code scam steals $10K from Calgary family

She stated, "Everything looked the same." "You enter your password and bank account information."

"Everything looked the same, same," she remarked. "You enter the password for your bank account."

However, she didn't know that she was not on the website of her bank. Instead, she was on a phony website that imitated connectFirst Credit Union, her bank.

"They succeeded in making it appear exactly like a real ConnectFirst e-transfer," spouse Steven Cooke verified. 

The couple said they were informed the e-transfer would be canceled, but that didn't happen. Within minutes, they had lost a grand sum of $10,000.

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