How can you tell if a parking QR code is a scam before you scan it?

A QR code hides where it goes until you scan it, and scammers paste fake ‘Scan to Park!’ stickers over real meter codes. Read the preview address before you tap, walk away from any sticker stuck over another sticker, and pay at the meter, a kiosk, or the official parking app instead.

You pull into a downtown spot, you are already late, and a neat sticker on the meter says “Scan to Park!” Short answer: treat every QR code in public like a link you cannot read. Point your camera, read the web address in the preview, and only tap if it exactly matches the city or business you expected. If the code is a sticker stuck over another sticker, do not scan it at all — pay at the meter, a kiosk, or in the official parking app instead.

Why: a QR code hides its destination until you scan, so scammers print fake codes on cheap stickers and paste them over real ones. The fake page looks like a parking payment page but steals your card and personal details — and your parking was never paid. The FTC warned in September 2026 about fake QR stickers on parking meters, and in October 2026 police in Ann Arbor, Michigan found fake “Scan to Park!” and “Park AA” stickers on meters near the University of Michigan and sent crews to inspect meters and remove them.

The FTC and FBI have also warned about QR codes in unexpected texts, emails, and surprise packages.1. Look before you scan. Is the code a loose sticker, crooked, or covering another code underneath?

Walk away from that one.2. Scan, but do not tap yet. Read the preview address letter by letter, watching for misspellings or a strange domain.3.

If the page asks for more than parking needs — a login, gift cards, unusual personal information — close it.4. Pay the official way instead: coins or card at the meter, the kiosk, or the city’s official app, opened by you — never from the sticker.5. If you already paid on a page that now looks suspicious, contact your bank or card issuer right away, watch the account, and report it to the city or parking operator.Pro tip: Never download a separate “QR scanner” app for this.

Your phone’s camera already shows the preview, and extra scanner apps add ads and risk.Ad’s take: Five seconds reading that little preview address is the whole trick. These scams do not beat careful people — they beat hurried people, and the scammers know it.