A Chinese woman dining at a hotpot restaurant was shocked to receive a $60,000 bill for food she had not ordered. The cause of this astronomical bill was the QR code on the table, which allowed customers to order food using their smartphones. When woman, surnamed Wang, posted a photo of her meal on social media, she inadvertently included the QR code, which was then scanned by numerous online users who proceeded to place massive orders. Despite the woman's attempts to rectify the situation, the restaurant was unable to cancel the orders, leaving her with a hefty bill.
According to the South China Morning Post, Ms Wang deleted her post immediately, but people kept making new orders at their table. She assumed someone had downloaded her photo and continued making orders using the code.
As per the screenshot of the order Ms Wang later posted online, people ordered 1,850 portions of fresh duck blood, 2,580 portions of squid, and 9,990 portions of shrimp paste, each priced at a few dozen yuan (a few US dollars).
The restaurant did not make Mr Wang pay the bill and moved her to a new table, ignoring all the new orders made via the code. The management said it could neither track down the people who ordered the food nor stop people from continuing to do so.
Ms Wang considered it a learning opportunity and urged heightened awareness of information security when sharing food photos. She advised people to blur out or cover up QR codes in their photos to prevent others from using them to order food without their permission.
