This might sound strange, but it happened to me personally. I was at a local coffee shop that had a flyer promoting Bitcoin payments and crypto education. The flyer looked professional and included a QR code to “learn more and claim free crypto rewards.” I scanned it out of curiosity.

It took me to a sleek-looking site offering a $50 Bitcoin “welcome reward” if I connected my wallet for verification. I was using MetaMask, and it requested connection permissions. Everything seemed harmless—until I read the fine print of the permissions request. The site was trying to gain full control of my wallet.

Luckily, I didn’t approve the connection. But I later checked crypto forums and realized it was a wallet-draining scam. The QR code linked to a malicious dApp that, once connected, could clean out your funds instantly.

That moment taught me something huge: not every QR code is safe. Scammers are getting smarter, and now they’re bringing scams into the real world. Always double-check any links and never connect your wallet to random sites—no matter how legitimate they look.