QR code and SMS phishing: spot, check and report
For all staff who use a work phone, or a personal phone for work email or apps. Complete 'Recognizing phishing emails and messages' first: this course goes deeper on the two routes that bypass email filters and land on your phone, scam text messages (smishing) and malicious QR codes (quishing), including QR codes sent inside emails and stickers placed over genuine codes. You'll learn the common lures, how to check where a QR code really goes before opening it, how to verify a message through a route you trust, how to report scam texts in the US and UK, and what to do in the first minutes if you tapped a link or typed in details. Your company's procedure sets the reporting route for work devices.
- Level
- Beginner
- Length
- About 66 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Identify the warning signs of a scam text message or QR code lure
- Check where a QR code leads, and whether a physical code has been tampered with, before acting on it
- Choose a safe way to verify an unexpected message, using contact details you already trust
- Report scam texts and QR codes through the right channel for your device and country
- Take the right first steps after tapping a scam link or entering details
Course outline
- 1.Identifying the warning signs of a scam text or QR code lureLesson · 12 min
- 2.Checking where a QR code leads before acting on itLesson · 12 min
- 3.Choosing a safe way to verify an unexpected messageLesson · 10 min
- 4.Reporting scam texts and QR codes through the right channelLesson · 10 min
- 5.Taking the right first steps after tapping a scam linkLesson · 8 min
- 6.QR code and SMS phishing: spot, check and report: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 14 questions
- 7.QR code and SMS phishing: spot, check and report: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- FTC Consumer Alert: Scammers hide harmful links in QR codes to steal your information (6 December 2023)
- FTC Consumer Advice: How to Recognize and Report Spam Text Messages (July 2022)
- FBI IC3 Public Service Announcement I-011822-PSA: Cybercriminals Tampering with QR Codes to Steal Victim Funds (18 January 2022)
- NCSC (UK): How to spot a scam email, text message or call
- NCSC (UK): Report a scam text (forward to 7726)
- NCSC (UK): Phishing scams: if you've shared sensitive information
- CISA Secure Our World: Recognize and Report Phishing
See it with your own jobs and topics
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