Christchurch City Council is warning residents after fraudulent parking stickers directing drivers to bogus payment websites were discovered on meters across the city.
The scam is more calculated than opportunistic vandalism: whoever placed the stickers also blacked out meter screens with permanent marker, disabling legitimate payment and pushing drivers toward a QR code that led to a fake site instead.
Council staff found the stickers on machines belonging to both the Council and other parking providers this week.
Head of Transport Stephen Wright said the response was immediate, with stickers pulled from affected sites and surveillance from the Parking Compliance team stepped up. Wright said the community could be assured the Council was taking this matter very seriously.
“The stickers at these sites were immediately removed and monitoring and surveillance from the Parking Compliance team has been increased,” he said, adding that checks would now happen daily.
Wright stressed that the Council will never ask for payment via QR code, and that the correct payment method for Council-owned parking sites is always displayed on the meters themselves.
Anyone who has scanned one of the fake codes and entered card details is being urged to act quickly. The Council says affected residents should contact their bank and the Police immediately, since their payment information may have been compromised.
People are also asked to call the Council’s Contact Centre on 03 941 8999 to report the location of any fraudulent sticker they spot, so compliance staff can remove it before more drivers are caught out.
The Council confirmed it is now working alongside Police and other parking operators to track down the source of the stickers and get them identified and removed from remaining sites as quickly as possible.
With QR code scams increasingly turning up on everything from parking meters to courier notices, Council says if a payment prompt looks unofficial, it probably is. Checking the meter itself remains the safest way to pay.
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