Perth and Kinross Council car parks hit by QR code scammers

Perth and Kinross Council car parks have once again been hit by scammers.

Scam QR code stickers have been removed from several Perth city centre car park ticket machines and customers have been reminded the RingGo mobile app payment service does not use QR codes.

Ticket machines at the South Inch, South Street, Scott Street, Library East and Hospital Street were all targeted.

The latest scam led many to call on the council to accept card payments at all of its parking ticket machines and remove the risk of customers falling foul of scammers.

On Tuesday, September 29, Perth and Kinross Council warned motorists that a fake QR code sticker had been discovered on a Perth city centre parking ticket machine.

The PKC warning posted on Facebook said: “A fake QR code sticker has been found on a parking ticket machine at Library East Car Park in Perth.

“Please do not scan any QR codes on parking machines.

“To pay for parking, please use coins, your card or the official RingGo app. RingGo does not use QR codes for parking payments. Make sure you only download the app from the App Store or Google Play.

“If you see a QR code on a parking ticket machine, or are directed to any website asking for parking payment outside the official app, please do not use it and report it to ParkingServices@pkc.gov.uk”

In subsequent posts, PKC said more stickers had been discovered then removed from various locations, including South Inch Car Park, South Street Car Park and Hospital Street Car Park.

PKC’s parking ticket machines have been targetted several times by scammers, including in June 2025 and April 2026.

This latest scam left some customers urging the council to accept direct card payments at all of its machines.
One response said: “Why don’t you just ditch the involvement of RingGo and just accept card payments directly on machines? These machines are so old it’s ridiculous; replace them or update them to take cards.”

Another suggested: “How about you highlight it on the parking machine that RingGo doesn’t support QR codes?”

A Perth and Kinross Council spokesperson said: “We want to provide a range of convenient payment options for people using the council’s on- and off- street parking facilities. Therefore, motorists can pay by cash and/or card and via the RingGo app, depending on location. These options are kept under review.

“A convenience charge of 20p in addition to the parking fee is applied when using RingGo. This covers an optional booking confirmation text message (app users can opt out of this via their settings if preferred) and a reminder text 10 minutes before their digital parking ticket expires. The 20p charge goes directly to RingGo and not to Perth and Kinross Council.

“Motorists can also purchase season tickets via the RingGo app for weekly or monthly parking in Perth city centre, Dunkeld, Pitlochry and Blairgowrie. Additionally weekly and monthly season tickets for Canal Street Multi-Storey can be purchased directly at this car park. Further details are available on our website at https://www.pkc.gov.uk/article/17971/Parking-in-Perth-and-Kinross.”

According to RingGo, scammers imitating its services are a “daily” and “ongoing issue”.

A RingGo spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, scammers imitate the services we use daily to try and con people. At RingGo we work closely with local councils to remove any scam QR code stickers as soon as they are spotted and we are constantly looking at new ways to make it more difficult for the scammers to operate. This is an ongoing issue, but it is not one that we have seen a particular rise in recently.”

Responding to calls for PKC to allow direct card payments at all of its ticket machines, the RingGo spokesperson said: “RingGo’s aim is to make paying for parking as convenient as possible for everyone. For millions of motorists in the UK their preferred payment method is via RingGo, but we recognise that this is not the case for all users.

“We believe that a mixture of app payment and physical paystations ensure the most effective mix of payment accessibility and convenience. To that end we support councils in provisioning card payments at paystations.

“Paying for parking with a mobile app provides additional flexibility and convenience to drivers. It eliminates the need to queue for a paystation, removes the need to return to the car to place a ticket under the windscreen and it enables drivers to extend their parking session remotely without needing to return to the paystation.”