New QR code scam targeting PG&E customers costs Bay Area victims more than $211,000

PG&E is warning Bay Area customers about a new scam involving QR codes and barcodes, with customers across the utility’s service area losing more than $211,000 to impostors in the first half of the year alone.

The scam begins with a phone call threatening to disconnect a customer’s service unless an immediate payment is made. Victims are then sent a barcode or QR code by text or email and instructed to take it to a store and present it to a cashier to make a payment, PG&E said in a statement.