Overview

• Criminals are placing fake QR code stickers over genuine ones on car park payment machines to redirect users to sites that harvest card and bank details.
• Between April 2024 and April 2025, Action Fraud logged over 780 quishing reports and confirmed losses nearing £3.5 million nationwide.
• A Bournemouth resident discovered multiple tampered codes at town centre car parks that demanded sensitive financial information when scanned.
• Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council has informed police, is reviewing CCTV footage and dispatching officers to remove suspicious stickers promptly.
• Similar quishing scams have also appeared on online shopping platforms and in phishing emails impersonating organisations such as HMRC.