#MiddleburyCT #QRCode 
Sometimes when we start seeing something nearly everywhere we go, we assume that “somebody” has checked it out and it’s therefore safe to use. Not so, at least in the case of those QR codes we’re seeing all over.
QR codes (short for quick-response codes) are those little squares with black squiggles in them, machine-readable codes buried in the lines of the little box. The idea is that you hold your phone over them to scan the code and all the information hidden in the code will pop up for you to read. You’ll spot these QR codes everywhere now: a menu posted on the door of a restaurant, a magazine ad, a factsheet with an item that you’re considering purchasing, fliers put under windshield wipers in parking lots, a package delivered to your house … even on TV ads!
How handy, you might think, to be able to instantly access that information. Unless malicious code (spyware) was encoded into the black squiggles when the QR code was created by scammers. If that’s the case, you instantly put your phone (and all the data you have on it) in jeopardy.
Malicious code can send out emails that look like they came from you. Or it can steal all the names and numbers in your contact list. Or it can add you to a list of targets for spam phone calls. Or it can install software on your phone. The list of things that can go wrong is nearly endless if you click a malicious QR code with your phone.
Consider QR codes to be the phone equivalent of a link that you receive in an email from an unknown person or company. In other words, don’t scan it.
While it’s possible that most of the QR codes you see wherever you go are perfectly safe, there’s really no way to tell. Why take the chance?
© 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.
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