How Technology is Disrupting the use of QR Codes
QR codes have been around since the early 90s and have evolved from the standard barcode to what we currently use to track products and view websites. The simplicity and efficiency of using smartphones to access websites and track products through the usage of a QR code has become the norm. According to QR Code Tiger, around 11 million households use QR codes yearly and the number is only rising.
Strategically, companies have been using QR codes on billboards and other physical marketing materials to direct consumers to their company websites and learn more about their products. Even more recently with the pandemic, restaurants adopted virtual menus through the use of QR codes to minimize direct contact with physical menus.
Given they are easily produced - online through a QR code generator - anyone can search for a ‘QR code’ in a search engine such as google, place the website they want to link to the QR code into the generator and it will create a unique QR code by embedding the website into the scannable code.
We are seeing more and more fashion brands using QR codes to showcase information about their products - Ganni, H&M, Reformation - but with these new uses for QR codes comes the question: how secure are QR codes? The current model of QR codes are not as safe as one would believe.
The problem with QR code authentication is that these codes can be easily manipulated and used to create false information about counterfeit products posing as the real thing. Any seller can create a fake QR code using free QR code generators online and attach falsified information about the product. An example of this type of transaction would be when luxury items are sold on the resale market. Counterfeit sellers might use QR codes to entice buyers by indicating the product’s legitimacy. The Better Business Bureau’s Scamtracker site lists 46 QR code-related attacks in the U.S. since March 2020. As consumers become more accustomed to using QR codes, security officials expect even more attacks. On the internet, we see examples of various coupon scams across many industries.
Major events are also having issues with QR code usage. Companies are using QR codes as a cheaper alternative when going paperless making it easier for patrons to use smartphones to access events. The only issue with using QR codes is the rise of fake ticket sales. Fraudulent sellers are keeping their QR codes and sending the same QR codes to unsuspecting victims.
The flaw with QR codes is how easily they can be reproduced and manipulated. Since these codes are easily created, companies need to look for solutions to combat the rise of counterfeit QR codes. A technology that is presenting a promising solution is Authentique.
Authentique uses a smartphone to create a digital fingerprint that authenticates and stores a digital twin (NFT) of the physical product. This sort of identification allows consumers buying luxury goods on the resale market the knowledge that this product is legitimate and is not a counterfeit.
The advanced technology of creating a digital fingerprint during the manufacture of a physical product allows consumers a legitimate and secure option to safely purchase. AUTHENTIQUE uses software to create a NFT that is stored on the blockchain and can never be manipulated. This NFT provides purchasers information of the physical goods provenance, time and place sold, how it was made, the items story, its authenticity and more.
Learn more about AUTHENTIQUE on our website to see why the creation of NFTs through visual recognition software is the way of the future to combat the counterfeit industry and bypass fraudulent transactions with luxury purchases.