An Amesbury woman has claimed she was scammed after scanning a QR code on a Wiltshire Council parking ticket machine on Monday, August 1.
Carolyn Robinson, 59, of Amesbury, told the Journal she was trying to pay to park in the council-run Amesbury central car park when she was redirected to a scam website.
The ticket machine Mrs Robinson used is card-only and customers can scan a MiPermit QR code on the side of the machine to pay for their parking.
Mrs Robinson said: "I downloaded the QR code onto my Android and it took me to a website but because my phone was in the sun I didn't really see it.
"I scanned my card then realised it wasn't actually MiPermit and then I immediately had a message from my bank asking if I had authorised the payment."
Wiltshire Council have said the ticket machines have been disabled because of a power failure and that it is not aware of any problems with the QR codes.
Mrs Robinson claims she was directed to "loudgamin", which tried to take £1 twice alongside another £1.49 from her bank account.
After telling her bank that she did not authorise the payment, Mrs Robinson's card was blocked.
Mrs Robinson said this could have been avoided if the machines still accepted cash.
"It's absolutely ridiculous that you can't pay 20p for parking with cash," added Mrs Robinson.
Wiltshire Council have now covered up the two parking machines in the Amesbury central car park with bin bags, however the QR codes are still visible.
Councillor Dr Mark McClelland, cabinet member for highways, said: "We are not aware of any issues with the QR codes at Amesbury Car Park, however the payment machines are currently out of use due to a power failure.
"We hope to have the issue resolved soon, and apologise for any inconvenience caused."
When Mrs Robinson asked a Wiltshire Council representative how she is to pay for her parking, she claims the council told her to "park elsewhere".
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