{"id":593732,"date":"2026-09-08T08:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T08:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/593732\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T08:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T08:56:09","slug":"dodgy-qr-codes-now-also-being-found-on-auckland-transport-parking-meters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/593732\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Dodgy’ QR codes now also being found on Auckland Transport parking meters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scam QR codes on parking machines appear in Auckland<\/p>\n

“Dodgy” parking QR codes have found their way to Auckland as the city’s transport agency warns people to avoid them entirely.<\/p>\n

Auckland Transport said it had found a “handful of scam QR code stickers” on parking meters in the city centre last week.<\/p>\n

This comes after both Wellington and Christchurch city councils raised the alarm<\/a> over similar fake QR stickers on meters across each city.<\/p>\n

AT’s Head of Transport and Parking Compliance Rick Bidgood told Checkpoint AT does not use QR codes on any of its parking meters or machines and the public should be vigilant.<\/p>\n

“We only picked up a very very small handful so they were dodgily placed on top of where the payment methodology should be on the payment machine”<\/p>\n

He said the codes were “not broadly spread” and only found in the lower city towards the viaduct.<\/p>\n

“I do believe it takes you to a payment gateway so please don’t scan it.’<\/p>\n

AT said in a Facebook post the QR codes directed people to a website that appeared legitimate, asking for details like parking duration and licence plate information before wanting them to pay.<\/p>\n

Bidgood said there have been no reports yet from the public of any scams.<\/p>\n

He said the AT team had done a sweep of the city’s parking meters as part of their regular checks, but they have also alerted police.<\/p>\n

Police were urging caution about where people provide their credit card details, saying it’s often an offshore scam.<\/p>\n

Detective senior sergeant Craig Bolton said people should use official apps or parking machines wherever possible.<\/p>\n

“Pay close attention when you’re paying for parking. If you are scanning one of these dodgy QR codes, there’s a high chance the website you’re being directed to is being run by an offshore scam centre.<\/p>\n

“From there, the scammers will use your credit card details to wreak havoc and attempt to fraudulently use your money.”<\/p>\n

Bolton said if a person does enter their details into a “dodgy website”, acting fast was key.<\/p>\n

“The sooner you act, the less chance scammers have to do any damage.”<\/p>\n

This is not the first time fake QR codes have been spotted around the country.<\/p>\n

Last week Wellington City Council said parking staff had removed about a dozen fake stickers from parking meters around the city over the past couple of days.<\/p>\n

In July, Christchurch City Council also found fake QR code<\/a> stickers on several council-owned and privately-owned parking meters.<\/p>\n

Bidgood said using debit or credit cards on the AT parking app or at parking machines was the safe option.<\/p>\n

He urged anyone who was scammed or spotted a fake QR code to contact police and AT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scam QR codes on parking machines appear in Auckland “Dodgy” parking QR codes have found their way to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-593732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}