{
 "@context": "https://schema.org",
 "@type": "FAQPage",
 "mainEntity": [
  {
   "@type": "Question",
   "name": "Can scanning a QR code by itself hack my phone?",
   "acceptedAnswer": {
    "@type": "Answer",
    "text": "For modern, updated phones \u2014 effectively no. Scanning only reads the encoded URL; the danger begins with what you do next: opening the link, entering credentials, downloading a file, or approving a prompt. This is genuinely good news, because it means the defense is entirely in your hands. Scanning a suspicious code and then closing the preview costs you nothing. The scam needs your cooperation on the page it leads to \u2014 deny it that, and the code is just ink."
   }
  },
  {
   "@type": "Question",
   "name": "How can I tell where a QR code leads before opening it?",
   "acceptedAnswer": {
    "@type": "Answer",
    "text": "Your phone already shows you. Both iPhone and Android camera apps display the destination URL in a small banner before you tap through \u2014 the entire skill is pausing to read it. Look for the actual domain (the part before the first single slash): city services should be on .gov or the city's known domain, companies on their exact real domain. Shortened links (bit.ly and similar), IP addresses, and near-miss spellings are all reasons to close the preview. For payments and logins, skip codes entirely and type the official address yourself."
   }
  },
  {
   "@type": "Question",
   "name": "What is the parking meter QR sticker scam?",
   "acceptedAnswer": {
    "@type": "Answer",
    "text": "Fraudsters print QR code stickers pointing at fake payment sites and stick them on parking meters, pay stations, and EV chargers \u2014 often directly over the legitimate code. Drivers in a hurry scan, land on a professional-looking payment page, and enter card details that go straight to the scammer, sometimes alongside a fake \"parking session\" confirmation that leaves them ticketed too. Before scanning at any meter: check whether the code is a sticker sitting on top of another, and prefer the city's official parking app or the phone number printed on the meter itself."
   }
  },
  {
   "@type": "Question",
   "name": "I got a text about unpaid tolls with a QR code. Is it real?",
   "acceptedAnswer": {
    "@type": "Answer",
    "text": "Almost certainly not. Unpaid-toll smishing has become one of the highest-volume text scams in the US, and tolling agencies \u2014 E-ZPass, FasTrak, SunPass and the rest \u2014 do not send payment demands with QR codes or links by text. Real toll billing arrives by mail or through the account you already hold, accessed by typing the agency's site yourself. Delete the text, and if you're genuinely unsure whether you owe a toll, look up the agency's official site independently and check there. The late-fee countdown in the message is the pressure tactic, not a fact."
   }
  },
  {
   "@type": "Question",
   "name": "Is what I describe here stored anywhere?",
   "acceptedAnswer": {
    "@type": "Answer",
    "text": "No. Per our Security Policy Framework \u00a73.1, nothing you submit is stored in our database. Your description is processed server-side, analyzed, and discarded immediately after your result is returned. We never retain, sell, or train on your submissions."
   }
  },
  {
   "@type": "Question",
   "name": "I scanned a scam QR code and entered my information. What now?",
   "acceptedAnswer": {
    "@type": "Answer",
    "text": "Respond to what you entered. A password: change it immediately from a different, trusted browser, change it anywhere it was reused, and turn on two-factor authentication. Card details: call the number on the back of the card, report it, and request a replacement \u2014 issuers handle this daily and dispute fraudulent charges. Work credentials: report to your IT team right away, especially if you approved an MFA prompt, because minutes determine whether a session gets hijacked. Then report the scam at reportfraud.ftc.gov \u2014 and if it was a physical sticker, tell the business or city so it comes down before the next person scans."
   }
  }
 ]
}