The police announce that they have found those who were pasting fraudulent QR codes on the parking signs. Searches in Bucharest and Teleorman
Paid parking, Bucharest, Photo: Adi Iacob / HotNews
The Police of the City of Bucharest declared, on Thursday, that they had identified the persons suspected of committing the act and that one of them is currently in custody in Belgium for similar acts.
On July 24, the Capital's police officers were notified that “on several information panels intended for making payments for car parking, in Sector 1, stickers containing QR codes different from the original ones were applied”.
When people tried to pay their parking fee by scanning that QR code, they were redirected to a link asking for their card's bank details.
Arriving at the scene, the police identified several information boards on which “stickers containing QR codes pasted over the original ones had been applied”. They were raised for further research.
“Following the investigations carried out, it emerged that, on July 19, 2025, two people, who would have benefited from the support of two other people – in the sense that they would have secured the area and provided them with a car with which they traveled to the scene of the crime – would have pasted QR codes made of self-adhesive paper over the original ones on the panels intended for parking payment”, say the Capital's police officers.
Research showed that those QR codes led to a website that mimicked the parking company's page, “with false data being entered, used to collect registration numbers and payment instrument details”.
Searches in the Capital and in Teleorman
On Thursday, the law enforcement officers implemented five home search warrants, in the Capital and in Teleorman.
“Thus, the two people suspected of committing the act were detected, one of them being currently arrested in Belgium, for similar acts. Regarding the two people who offered support, we mention the fact that one of them was detected, activities are being carried out in relation to the other in order to detect and take the necessary legal measures”, the Capital Police also declared.
The action benefited from the support of police officers from the Forensic Service, the Service for Special Actions, as well as the support of the Teleorman County Police Inspectorate.
The investigations are being continued by the Computer Crimes Combating Service within the General Directorate of Police of the Municipality of Bucharest, under the supervision of the Prosecutor's Office attached to the District 1 Court, in terms of committing the crimes of computer falsification, material falsification in official documents, complicity in computer falsification and complicity in material falsification in official documents.
