quishing
Published 8 November 2026, 20:08
quishing (QR code phishing) — stealing data through a QR code
The same theft of logins, passwords and card details as ordinary phishing, except that the bait is not a link in an email but a QR code on a paper letter, a sticker on a parking meter or a bill. The code leads to a copy of a bank's or a government agency's website, and everything you type in there goes to the fraudsters.
Where you come across it. A letter "from the bank" with a new card and a request to activate it with a code, stickers on parking meters and charging points, fake electricity and phone bills.
Unlike a link, which you can read, a QR code does not show you in advance where it leads. A bank never asks you to activate a card with a code from a paper letter: call the number on your card or on the bank's website, typing the address in yourself.
Official website: gov.pt/guias/perda-ou-roubo-da-carteira