Plain, readable urls rather than using shortening services is a step in the right direction, but it won't stop lookalike phishing.
this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
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You could put up a poster identical to the first, with a new url
When my phone scans a QR code it shows what the URL text is without needing to go to the URL. Any time you're thinking about going to a link you gotta consider the risks, but if it says restrauntname.com/menu I'll feel better about it than if it's a url shortener
And I could put up a poster that says restaurantname.net/menu
While there's probably no global solution, personally I use a QR Code reader that doesn't actually use the URL, but just displays it and lets me copy it to the clipboard. That way I can inspect it, and if it doesn't look right, ignore it.
Mine has a setting for it.
As far as I know, the options are:
- Use a QR reader app that doesn't auto open links (or lets you configure it like that), so you see the URL and inspect it before opening the URL in the browser.
- In case of a short URL, use a short URL resolver so you can see what is the real destination without actually opening the URL yourself.
- Using a DNS with block lists (that are updated often) of known phishing sites.
If these 3 checks fail, there is not much more you can do.
I just don't scan QR codes.
Unfortunately sometimes it's really hard to avoid. I've been to restaurants that don't even have physical menus. You could probably find a menu on their website, but not always.
"Hi, I'd like a menu"
"Oh, our resteraunt only has QR codes."
"Ok, bye bye."
"Sorry date/group of friends/family/work function, we can't eat here. I don't want to scan a QR code."
Can I use your phone to view the menu? The camera in my phone is broken.
Which of those groups do you routinely lie to?
Tell me you don't go out with friends, without telling me you don't go out with friends
I think I've only ever seen 2 or 3 places in my life that didn't have physical menus. I didn't walk out of the ones that didn't, but I haven't been back to any of them.
I work 7 days a week with 4 different jobs. I don't have time to go out, much less have friends. But I have walked out of places and stopped in a gym signup process because they required a cell phone to use their service.
Good for you to abandon dark patterns, however, people prioritising socialising might lead to less dark patterns in general.
my UNI makes you scan QR codes, that's what sparked this question, I can't change unis because of a qr code.
That wont be a solution in the future.
China used QR code scanning to control movements during covid (although I think its reversed, its the people who show the qr code to the officials who scan it), eventually, these type of digital ID checkpoints are gonna be all around the world just like surveillance cameras. Wanna get access to a building, need an app on your phone. Wanna drive a car? Open the app. Wanna take a bus? Open the app. cops being dipshits and asking for your digital ID to verify your legak status or else they send you to the gulag/concentration camps? Open the fucking app and verify. (Its not USA-specific either, Germany is doing border checkpoints too)
Cars have radios now, you can even survive without internet connection (to fill out the job application) and a phone number (to have banking).
Welcome to the future!
Australia did too. QR codes are probably the least invasive tracking you can imagine. You can open each one in a clean browser, like Firefox focus, if you like. They are just a shortcut for entering urls. If china wants to track its citizens, it’s not with QR codes as they track so much more from the data already on your phone.
Most places with public transport have moved from cash to card based payment. It’s all traceable already. Sure, some places, you don’t need to register the card and can cycle through some, but many places you need to register to use one, or register for reduced fares.
They're not a url, they're just a string that's often a url. There's no (technical) reason why it couldn't be a signed public key, or a signed url that the camera app could validate
Yes, they are just data, but commonly that data encodes a url.
I agree, it could be made more secure, but getting rid of url shorteners and trackers that obfuscate real urls would be a step in the right direction with no new software needed.
Like that one restaurant, with their fancy engraved QR code menus that linked to localhost.
That seems quite difficult to combat. Especially if there is a 0 day exploit based in the web browser for iOS or Android devices that attackers could use for their nefarious purposes.
Not sure about Android, but on iOS, when one scans a QR code it shows the web address on the screen that the user then taps on. For the average user, I doubt that they are going to question what the URL is before following through to the website.
Perhaps Apple and Google could implement a sort of verification that a link is suspect or not, and prompt the user to either proceed or not. Anti-phishing blocklists are a thing, so it would seem that it wouldn’t be too difficult. Though that would not stop domains that have not been added to the blocklists from passing the verification attempts.
Not sure about Android, but on iOS, when one scans a QR code it shows the web address on the screen that the user then taps on. For the average user, I doubt that they are going to question what the URL is before following through to the website.
Android does the same. The problem is most of those QR codes are encoded short links which tells you nothing about where they're taking you.
https://short.link/au1034gha could take you to a PDF on the restaurant's Wordpress site or it could take you to malware or somewhere else you really don't want to go.
In that case, I blame the people generating the codes for using URL shorteners. My org uses them in flyers for the public, and I always have to chastise them and re-create the QR codes because they run the URL to our website through bit [dot] ly. 😡
I’ve had one recently that used a similar site. It now has an ad and a click through to get to the site. I think it was meant to be a menu. Enshittification at every point.
Interesting! I did not realize they use bit.ly and such. That would make the solution even more difficult, as Apple and Google would then need to make some sort of deal with every major URL shortening service to somehow be able find out what the URL links to, and then check it against a blocklist. That would require quite a bit of cooperation, to the point of being a non-starter I’d think. Why use a short URL service for a QR code?
Been thinking for awhile that it's impossible that foreign spies don't hang around D.C. just slapping a handful of these out at popular restaurants and watering holes. kill the URLs after 24 hrs and do it again to stay less detected, you'd get something for lateral movement in any given weekend.
I doubt foreign intelligence agencies need to do this and leave physical traces. They'll just get pegasus from israel's "NSO Group" and send it to everyone.
You do that when you want Hegseths phone, ASAP, for a few million.
You do this first to see if you can get there ahead of time for $1000.
Or just wait until the next National Security Advisor drunk text you...
"hello sir I am with big newspaper, great time last night, please save contact as big important newspaper guy"
Easy: Don't scan QR codes. Manually enter the URL yourself. I haven't seen any QR codes advertised anywhere that don't also include the URL somewhere on the flyer, commercial, menu, etc.
Have seen some in a political campaign. White campaign poster only with a QR code … it was looking like the biggest phishing tactic so rip them out
Browsers should probably warn if a site on which you are filling forms with personal information or payment methods have been issued with KYC or not. And clearly state to whom physical persona or enterprise that certificate was issued.
Though I worry about the barrier from many people to get those certificates and then privacy concerns. It's a balance between privacy and democracy and fighting scams. My guess is that browsers should only warn in certain websites, but in which websites and how to detect them... That eludes me, seems complex.
Teach your followers never to trust a QR code that is printed on paper. Only on screens that are on trustworthy devices.