Woman thinks QR code got hacked

Reporter: Olivia Jean
Published: Updated:

A Fort Myers woman says a fraudulent QR code at Barefoot Beach caused her credit card to be hacked. She’s on a mission to warn others.

You may have heard the stories about people having trouble with parking meters in downtown Fort Myers. Some drivers reported their cards were hacked after paying for parking. It seems new locations are being targeted.

Ellie Lorenc, from Fort Myers, visited Barefoot Beach on Friday, November 8th. She said it was a “great” beach day until a few hours later when she got a fraud alert text from her bank.

“It is very frustrating,” said Lorenc.

At first, she thought she got lucky when she got to Barefoot Beach.

“We were fortunate. We thought to get parking in the parking lot because a lot of times it’s full,” Lorenc said.

She spent four hours at the beach and spent eight dollars on parking.

“The only option you have to get parking there is to scan the QR code, and then you have to put in all the information. You have to put in your license plate, and then it asks you for all your credit card information. So I did that, and it was not a problem,” said Lorenc.

After a good beach day, she went to grab lunch.

“I got the fraud notice on my on my phone, I got a text. So I had, at that point, call and let them know that, yes, it was not my purchase and I had to cancel the credit card. So, pretty much my whole lunch was interrupted, and then I had, you know, you have to go back and cancel all the stuff that credit card is on,” said Lorenc.

She said she’s now out of a credit card.

“I think it is important to let people know that this is going on, and I think it’s more common than people know so and I don’t know if the if they can change it, or if there’s any kind of protections they can put in,” said Lorenc.

She’s calling on local governments to fix the issue. Collier County government said they are looking into it, but have not yet provided a plan to address the issue.

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office said they have no recent reports of parking scams at Barefoot Beach.

“They’re so good at this stuff, they would put a different code, and you wouldn’t even notice it. Their own QR code cover the one and it’s for the parking meter. You’re literally giving them all your information,” said Lorenc.

Scammers can replace the QR sticker itself with one that sends you somewhere else. To avoid this, check the URL to make sure it is legitimate.

The pay stations do not take payments without using the QR code.

“There’s really nothing you can do if you want to park there, and that’s the only way you can use the parking you have to use that parking code. I don’t even know if there’s other parking available besides that, but no, there’s nothing really. It could have done differently. No, and you couldn’t have,” said Lorenc.

Although signs at Barefoot Beach say Lee County Parks and Recs, Collier County manages the parking.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.