Basel’s cantonal police is warning residents and visitors about a new scam involving parking meters that allows the criminals to gain access to people’s credit card information.

Basel’s parking meters can be paid either in cash, or since 2021, they can also be paid digitally through the “ParkSmart Basel” app. This convenient app allows you to pay for parking in metered spaces (charging only for the time you effectively stay in that space), or to purchase visitor parking cards for the Blue Zone. In addition, a reminder function reminds you before the parking time expires.

The cantonal police has equipped these meters with QR codes. These codes cannot be used for direct payment but allow you to download the app. The correct parking meter can be located using the “Scan parking meter” function in the “ParkSmart Basel” app. If you have not yet installed the “ParkSmart Basel” app, scanning the QR code will take you to the Basel-Stadt cantonal police website and you can download the app from the AppStore and Google Play.

Gangs of fraudsters have now carefully covered up the QR codes on the parking meters. If you scan this fake QR code with your smartphone camera, you are redirected to a fraudulent website, “parksmartbasel.com.” When you enter data on this site, an error message will appear. By this point, however, the criminals already have your personal credit card details.

The Basel-Stadt cantonal police is warning the public about these fake QR codes, which are really difficult to recognize. To be sure that you don’t scan a phony QR code, they recommend installing the “ParkSmart Basel” app ahead of time and using it to pay parking fees or starting the parking meter with cash.

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