By Karl Matchett

Copyright independent

Whether you’re ordering drinks to your table in a pub or want to pay for car parking, QR codes make life simple.

A quick scan of a black-and-white grid on your mobile phone takes you straight to a website to carry out the transaction.

But that harmless-looking square can now hide a cunning scam.

This is known as “quishing”, where fraudsters trick you into handing over bank details or personal data, or download dangerous malware to your phone. Here’s what you need to know.

Beware the QR code: How a new scam is costing consumers £10,000 per day