Fake QR codes on Ann Arbor parking meters: what drivers should do now

Check a parking meter before scanning anything stuck to it. According to WXYZ-TV, Ann Arbor police are warning drivers about fake QR code stickers placed on parking meters in the downtown area.

The stickers carry phrases like "Scan to Park!" and "Park AA," made to look like a normal way to pay. Police say the codes are fraudulent and can send a scanned phone to a website built to capture personal or financial information.

What to do at the meter

Do not scan a QR code sticker on a parking meter. Use the meter's official payment method instead, whether that is the keypad, the app the city actually runs, or a card reader built into the machine. A sticker stuck over or beside the meter's normal instructions is the sign to stop.

A city parking employee found and removed one of the fake stickers on East William Street, near Coratti's Pizzeria. Parking employees have now been told to inspect meters and collect any suspicious stickers they find. That gives drivers a second line of defence, but it does not replace a driver's own caution at the meter itself.

Why this one is easy to fall for

The scam works because it looks like an upgrade, not a trick. A sticker that says "Scan to Park!" reads as the city modernising its meters, so a driver in a hurry scans first and checks later, if at all. The sequence shows the scam does not need a convincing fake website on its own; it needs a driver to trust the sticker enough to open the link in the first place. Once that link is opened, the website does the rest.

University of Michigan students interviewed by WXYZ said they would be cautious scanning an unfamiliar code themselves, but worried about older relatives. Freshman Landon Johns said his grandmother, Patti Johns, agreed she would be the one to scan it. Sophomore Gabrielle Murphy said her father might scan it too, despite her own internet safety habits.

That gap between what a person knows and what a relative might do is the actual risk here. Knowing not to scan a random QR code does not help a parent or grandparent who has not had that conversation. Telling them directly, before they are standing at a meter downtown, is the one step that closes it.

Pete Coratti, owner of Coratti's Pizzeria, Bar, and Bocce on East William Street, said he wants customers downtown to be aware of what is happening near his business. If a sticker looks newer or less worn than the rest of the meter, treat that as a reason to look twice before scanning.