Chinese woman shocked to receive bill of up to 60,000 USD after sharing QR code image (Photo: SCMP).
On November 23, a Chinese woman named Wang posted her hotpot restaurant receipt on social media and accidentally attached a QR code to her order. Many people took advantage of this and continuously ordered thousands of meals under her name.
Wang deleted the post shortly after discovering the problem, but the QR code may have been downloaded and circulated, leading to further orders. As a result, she was left with a bill of 430,000 yuan ($60,000).
Fortunately, the restaurant later canceled all orders, saving Ms. Wang from a "sky-high" accident. According to the store's management, they were unable to trace the people who had ordered food, nor could they stop people from continuing to order.
Ms. Wang called this a valuable lesson and called on people to raise awareness about information security, as well as to be more careful when sharing personal photos on social networks.
According to Lin Xiaoming, a lawyer at Sichuan Yishang Law Firm, these orders were not made by Ms. Wang and therefore are not considered valid. In a similar case, the victim can ask the restaurant to cancel the order and sue the people who made the fake orders for compensation in case of financial loss.
The attorney also recommended that restaurants add a confirmation mechanism to their ordering process to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The convenience of QR codes has helped this type of technology explode in recent years in the retail industry. However, they also have more information security loopholes because of their extremely quick operation. Users are advised to pay close attention to protecting their personal QR codes to avoid information security and financial risks.
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