Fake QR code on Esja trail sign prompts payment requests

A QR code added to a sign on a hiking route by the foothills of Esja led a woman to a payment request, followed by further requests, mbl.is reported. Rán Tryggvadóttir said she accepted the first request by mistake while out walking with her husband on Sunday.

The couple stopped at an information sign by the forestry centre at Mógilsá. Rán opened the QR code expecting to see a map, but instead received a request to pay one euro cent. She said she approved it in a moment of confusion, after which an unusual webpage appeared and no map was shown.

Rán said the request was linked to her debit card at Indó. Her account had no funds, so the bank rejected later payment requests, she said. She has since closed the account.

Auður Kjartansdóttir, executive director of Reykjavík Forestry, told mbl.is that someone had placed a sticker on the sign. She said a similar case had occurred in Heiðmörk, where a forestry employee scraped a sticker off a sign.

Rán said she first tried to contact Mógilsá to report the issue but could not get through. She then posted about it to warn others and ask how best to pass on the information. Auður said she had been told this was not the first time a sticker of this kind had been found on a sign in an outdoor recreation area.