Parking & payment meters
Drivers check the meter’s code before they pay
Fake stickers on pay stations send drivers to look-alike payment pages. Sign the code on each meter, and a scan opens qralo.com first: your verified name, the payment address and “Meter 0423”.
- Drivers see who signed the code, where it leads and which meter it was printed for
- Your verified domain shows on every genuine code
- Revoke one vandalized meter’s code without touching the rest
- Serial
- METER 0423
- Scan opens
- qralo.com
- Signature
- Ed25519
01The problem
Unattended meters, hurried drivers
A driver parks, walks to the pay station and scans the code on its front. A payment page opens and asks for a card. Nobody is there to notice that the code is a sticker someone added last night.
On a meter, the two codes look the same. The driver pays the copy in your name.
Taking the codes down also takes away the easiest way to pay.
On record
Public service announcement · 18 January 2022
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center
Criminals tamper with physical QR codes, for example by sticking a fake over the real one, to collect payment details.
Read the FBI notice(opens in a new tab)Consumer alert · 6 December 2023
U.S. Federal Trade Commission
Scammers covered the QR codes on parking meters with their own.
Read the FTC alert(opens in a new tab)
02On a meter
One signed code per meter, with its number on it
Your payment page stays where it is. QRalo signs the link to it and puts a check in front.
- 01
Sign a code for each meter
Enter your payment address, pick the Parking type and add the meter number as the label, like “Meter 0423”. Temporary permits can get an end date.
- 02
Print it with the meter number
Download the PNG and print it on your plate or sticker, next to the meter number and the line “Scanning opens qralo.com first”.
- 03
Drivers scan and check
The camera opens qralo.com/verify with your name, the full payment address and “Printed for: Meter 0423”. Then they pay.
03On the phone
What the driver sees
The check opens on qralo.com. Your payment page opens after it.
- 01Signed by
- Your organization’s name. The blue check and your domain appear once you verify the domain with a DNS record.
- 02Destination
- The payment site in large type, and the full address under it, before anything opens.
- 03Printed for
- The label you set, like Meter 0423. Drivers compare it with the number on the pay station.
- 04Status
- Active, expired or withdrawn, checked on every scan. A withdrawn code, or one changed after signing, gets a red result that tells drivers not to pay.
- 05Link checks
- The payment address is checked against public lists of known phishing sites and a few simple rules. A flagged address is shown as text only.
04When a meter is tampered with
Withdraw one meter’s code and leave the rest alone
If a plate is damaged or a code looks tampered with, revoke that code from your dashboard. The next driver who scans it sees that it was withdrawn. Print a new code for that meter. The rest of the network keeps working.
Scan counts per code help your field teams. When a busy meter goes quiet, its code may have been covered. Business adds a scan map and CSV export. Automatic alerts are not available yet.
05Before you print
What signing can’t do on a meter
Someone can still stick a fake on top. The fake can’t show your name on qralo.com.
Scan opens
qralo.com/verify
QRalo Demo
Domain verified: demo.qralo.com
Scan opens
pay-parking-paris.co
No qralo.com page
No name to check. The phone goes straight to the copy.
Demo label · fictional organization "QRalo Demo"
Four things to know
- A fake sticker never opens qralo.com. Print “Scanning opens qralo.com first” on the meter, so drivers notice when a code skips the page.
- The page shows the payment address next to your verified domain. It doesn’t yet check that one belongs to the other, so use an address on your own domain.
- Link checks flag known phishing sites and common patterns. A brand-new page can still get through.
- Codes download as PNG files. You print the plates or stickers, and in a pilot we help with the wording.
Operators & public sector
Start with one car park
Try signed codes on one car park or a few streets before a wider rollout. Scope and price are agreed with you.
In a pilot
- A guided 90-day pilot on your own sites
- Account setup and domain verification
- One signed code per meter or charger, with its label
- Help with signage wording
- An inspection round with the QRalo scanner
- A written report at the end
Not available yet: bulk generation, API access, scan-drop alerts and SSO. We’re building them with pilot customers.
FAQ