[Alert! Alert] Bitcoin QR Generator” lead to scam websites.

[maxreish]

Image source

Guys, according to the Zengo crypto wallet, four out of the first five results presented in the querying of Google  for the "Bitcoin QR Generator" was lead to scam websites. The company's researched found out that QR code Generator isn't really safe.

Since, the QR code contains our data information, then the scammers find a way how to get the public keys and changing the addresses to transfer the content to their addresses.

This is how it works:

“These sites generate a QR code that encodes an address controlled by the scammers, instead of the one requested by the user, thus directing all payments for this QR code to the scammers.”

Yes, it is easy and convenient to use the qr code scanner but after  I have read this article, I'd rather use a long random character code to copy paste it than to sacrifice my personal data which consist of my bitcoin.

Read here

[bitmover]

Many wallets generate QR codes for your public and private keys. There is no reason to go to third party websites for that.

When. Dealing with Bitcoin, no user should ever try to find on his own qr code generators, or search for a new random wallet to use.

Just stick with good, known, and open source software and you will be fine.

[dkbit98]

Best way I found to generate QR code is to use open source software QR Workshop.
You can generate and read any QR codes even if you are offline.

[stompix]

There is one pretty easy way to see if they scam you..

Verify: Before sharing the QR, scan it with a wallet app and verify the scanned address is your original address.

Seriously, wouldn't that be your first concern when you get the QR code, to check it if it's really yours?
And you should do that even with legit services or clean open source application, maybe you messed up when you copy-pasted the address and your code points to an invalid address.

Speaking of, I did try to type "pussy" in the address field on one of those scam sites and it still generated a qr code 
They could have at least put a validator so they are are not found out that easily.

[hugeblack]

Unfortunately, we trust by default the first results that appear on Google when we do not know what we are doing.
Scammers use this method to scam others and this is not limited to generating addresses but platforms, wallet, and others.
Address scanning, sending currencies does not require an Internet connection so this may be one of the possible solutions. (Disable internet)

[philipma1957]

 I never scanned a qr code.  I don't trust them.  Basically why scan something you cant read into your phone which can have lots of info stolen from it.

This applies to any qr code.  I recently purchased a low cost  second phone from tracfone if I absolutely need to scan a qr code I will use the burner phone which has almost no info of value on it.

[akram143]

Copy and paste the bitcoin address is the reallysafe method than any other and also we need to be sure that our device doesn't contain any malwares while doing this or else we will send the bitcoins to wrong address.

[TryNinja]

Copy and paste the bitcoin address is the reallysafe method than any other and also we need to be sure that our device doesn't contain any malwares while doing this or else we will send the bitcoins to wrong address.

Clipboard malware are extremely common though. In all cases, everyone should ALWAYS double and even triple check their address to see if they match.

[GreatArkansas]

Copy and paste the bitcoin address is the reallysafe method than any other and also we need to be sure that our device doesn't contain any malwares while doing this or else we will send the bitcoins to wrong address.

Clipboard malware are extremely common though. In all cases, everyone should ALWAYS double and even triple check their address to see if they match.

Agree. Copy pasting and QR code are still not safe at all w/out checking carefully by yourself.

To all: Speaking of double checking addresses before doing transaction.
How or what is the fastest way to check it?
Because what I am doing when checking is first I am comparing some first few letters/digits of the bitcoin address and the some of last digits/letters.

[pooya87]

I never scanned a qr code.  I don't trust them.  Basically why scan something you cant read into your phone which can have lots of info stolen from it.

that's not how it works!
the QR code can't steal anything from your phone when you scan it. i don't know which scanning app you use but usually what they do is simply they "translate" the squares into a human readable string. that's all. they don't run anything, or read anything from your phone.

[akram143]

Copy and paste the bitcoin address is the reallysafe method than any other and also we need to be sure that our device doesn't contain any malwares while doing this or else we will send the bitcoins to wrong address.

Clipboard malware are extremely common though. In all cases, everyone should ALWAYS double and even triple check their address to see if they match.

Agree. Copy pasting and QR code are still not safe at all w/out checking carefully by yourself.

To all: Speaking of double checking addresses before doing transaction.
How or what is the fastest way to check it?
Because what I am doing when checking is first I am comparing some first few letters/digits of the bitcoin address and the some of last digits/letters.

I am lazy to check all the letters while making transactions so I always check the first and last four digit before initiating it when sending a small amount.But for withdrawing amount from exchange needs only one time complete check because we can make it as our primary withdrawal address on most of the exchanges.

[bitart]

Agree. Copy pasting and QR code are still not safe at all w/out checking carefully by yourself.

To all: Speaking of double checking addresses before doing transaction.
How or what is the fastest way to check it?
Because what I am doing when checking is first I am comparing some first few letters/digits of the bitcoin address and the some of last digits/letters.

It could give you a false feel of safety, if you only check the first few and the last few digits/letters of a bitcoin address...
Although I don't really know how hard and resource demanding would be for a clipboard virus to calculate a similar bitcoin address on the fly (in that few seconds when you copy/paste the address), just to scam you this way... I think the clipboard virus just replace the target bitcoin address with a given one, it just don't calculate anything...
I don't really think that it's possible to generate/search for a different bitcoin address that matches the original address in the first/last part, so checking the first/last part could be safe... but that's not enough, everyone should check everything every time...
Just thinking about how resource demanding to search for a proper vanity address, and the vanity address just means that the first part of the bitcoin address is unique but the last part is still random... Of course it would be more easy to generate an address that only matches the first 2 characters and the last 2 characters, so you should check at least 5-6 characters from the beginning and from the end to be on the safe side... but the safest is to check everything

[prix]

Agree. Copy pasting and QR code are still not safe at all w/out checking carefully by yourself.

To all: Speaking of double checking addresses before doing transaction.
How or what is the fastest way to check it?
Because what I am doing when checking is first I am comparing some first few letters/digits of the bitcoin address and the some of last digits/letters.

It could give you a false feel of safety, if you only check the first few and the last few digits/letters of a bitcoin address...
Although I don't really know how hard and resource demanding would be for a clipboard virus to calculate a similar bitcoin address on the fly (in that few seconds when you copy/paste the address), just to scam you this way... I think the clipboard virus just replace the target bitcoin address with a given one, it just don't calculate anything...
I don't really think that it's possible to generate/search for a different bitcoin address that matches the original address in the first/last part, so checking the first/last part could be safe... but that's not enough, everyone should check everything every time...
Just thinking about how resource demanding to search for a proper vanity address, and the vanity address just means that the first part of the bitcoin address is unique but the last part is still random... Of course it would be more easy to generate an address that only matches the first 2 characters and the last 2 characters, so you should check at least 5-6 characters from the beginning and from the end to be on the safe side... but the safest is to check everything

The time it takes to generate an address that matches 6 characters (3 at the beginning and 3 at the end) is 10-20 seconds on my computer. It's not long although not very fast for hot swap.
But attacker can use a network of bots or can pregenerate such addresses and request them over the network. Or replace the address when reused (during the first use everything will be fine, but on another use, for example, in a day, the address will be as similar as possible). The likelihood of such tricks is small, but still do not neglect them.