Fake Parking Tickets in Villingen-Schwenningen: QR Code Leads Straight into a Scam
Deceptively real parking tickets with the city logo, correct number plate and a QR code for instant payment: police in Villingen-Schwenningen warn of a new quishing scam targeting parked cars. Here is how to spot the forgery.
Deceptively real parking tickets with city logo and correct number plate
A new level of escalation in quishing: in July 2026, unknown perpetrators in Villingen-Schwenningen attached fake parking tickets to parked cars that look confusingly similar to genuine city warnings. The forgeries bear the city logo – and are individually filled in with the correct number plate, street, date and time.
The printed QR code leads to a fraudulent website demanding payment of an alleged parking fee. Anyone who pays transfers their money directly to criminals. The police explicitly warn: do not scan, do not pay, file a report.
Important to know: genuine warnings from German cities do not normally contain a QR code for instant payment. Payment is made by bank transfer to a city treasury account – never via a website linked by QR code.
How to recognise fake parking tickets
QR code for payment
Genuine warnings never ask for payment via QR code. This is the clearest warning sign.
Missing case number
Official warnings contain a case number that you can verify with the city.
Check the payee
Payments always go to the city treasury with a German IBAN – not to private accounts or foreign payment services.
When in doubt: call the city
A call to the public order office clarifies within two minutes whether the warning is genuine.
The worrying part: the perpetrators know your number plate
Unlike mass-distributed fake notes, the perpetrators fill in each ticket individually – on site, with number plate, street and time. This makes the forgery extremely credible and shows how professionally quishing gangs now operate. Similar cases had previously occurred in Berlin-Marzahn.
Scan QR codes safely with QRTrust
QRTrust checks every QR code in real time against multiple phishing databases and AI models before you open the website.
You can find all documented incidents – including this one – on our interactive quishing map.
View the quishing map →*About QRTrust: QRTrust is Germany’s first QR code security platform, developed in Dortmund. With AI-powered real-time detection, QRTrust protects citizens and businesses from quishing attacks. 100% GDPR compliant, hosted in Germany.*