Please treat this as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
I am seeking information held by the council, including its Trading Standards service, relating to scams involving fraudulent or malicious QR codes, sometimes referred to as “quishing”.
For the period 1 January 2023 to the date this request is answered, please provide:
1. The number of complaints, enquiries, reports, incidents or intelligence reports received by the council or its Trading Standards service relating to:
- QR code scams;
- fraudulent or malicious QR codes;
- “quishing”;
- fake QR codes directing consumers to fraudulent websites or apps; or
- any other scam where a QR code was used to facilitate fraud.
2.Please provide these figures broken down by month, where the information is held in a readily retrievable format.
3. Where recorded, please provide a breakdown by the type or location of the incident, including where applicable:
- car parks or parking payment machines;
- fake QR code stickers;
- fraudulent websites;
- fraudulent or malicious apps;
- payment or banking fraud; and
- any other recorded category.
4. Where recorded, please provide the geographical location of the reported incident, for example the district, borough, town or postcode area, rather than any personal address.
5. Please provide the total number of relevant reports for each calendar year and for 2026 to date.
If the council does not maintain a specific category for QR-code-related scams, please confirm whether relevant records can be identified by searching relevant complaint, case-management, intelligence or correspondence systems for terms including:
“QR code”, “QR”, “quishing”, “fake QR”, “malicious QR”, “parking QR” and “QR scam”.
If so, please provide the results of any such searches.
If any part of this request would exceed the appropriate cost limit, please provide the information that can be supplied within the limit and advise which part or parts of the request could be refined.
I would prefer the information in electronic format, ideally CSV or Excel where appropriate.
