Alert on the French QR Code Scam Involving Electric Vehicle Charging

France warns drivers of electric vehicles to be wary of fraudulent QR codes on charging stations, which are efforts by thieves to obtain your credit card information.

The bogus QR codes have mostly been detected in the Centre-Val de Loire district of Loiret.

However, the issue could be more widespread given the rise in the number of electric car purchases in France.

Be careful of QR code scam with electric car charging

Fraudsters utilize the charging station to place new QR codes over the original ones in an attempt to trick customers into visiting a phony website instead of the real one.

A QR code directs you to a particular webpage when you hold your phone's camera up to it. 

The idea is that this is quicker and simpler than entering a URL.

The original codes are authentic and enable drivers to pay for their charges and submit their data using their smartphones. 

In contrast, the fake ones direct drivers to a phony website where their bank information is being stolen.

To make the fraud seem more authentic, the con artists seem to put a limit on the total amount of money they may steal in some more advanced variations of the scam. 

They might take more later, though.

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