Quishing is proving effective, too, with millions of people unknowingly opening malicious websites. In fact, 73% of Americans admit to scanning QR codes without checking if the source is legitimate.

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. You don't need your phone to open a QR code. You probably already know how to scan a QR code with your phone. It's simple enough: ...

Among the many changes brought about by the pandemic is the widespread use of QR codes, graphical representations of digital data that can be printed and later scanned by a smartphone or other device, ...

You have been warned — do not scan here. An “impossible” to detect smartphone threat is now surging, with a new warning that more than 4 million attacks were observed “in the first half of 2025 alone.

Avoid downloading third-party apps to scan QR codes.