Vandals hijack hi-tech plan to tackle Melbourne's graffiti

Pranksters have hijacked QR codes in Melbourne’s CBD intended to direct people to report graffiti and rubbish, sending them instead to videos about graffiti art.

Graffiti supporters have covertly hijacked QR codes designed to help people report vandalism in the CBD, instead directing them to YouTube videos promoting the spray-can subculture.

The Sunday Herald Sun this week found at least 17 bins on Collins and Bourke streets and other nearby streets where QR codes had been covered with new codes.

The QR code stickers, posing as the real thing, direct people to pro-graffiti YouTube videos including documentaries on street graffitists.

Some of the videos shown when the QR codes are scanned include Style Wars – an American documentary film on hip hop culture, and Jisoe – which details the life of troubled Australian graffitist Justin Hughes.

Sarah Valinoti and Josh Carter scan a barcode that’s meant to report graffiti. Picture: Ian Currie

The matter is now being investigated by the City of Melbourne, which has called in Victoria Police.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp has become the city’s anti-graffiti crusader, calling taggers “vandals and criminals” and saying that cleaning up the city is her priority.

In an exclusive interview with the Herald Sun in August, Cr Capp said she was “hell bent” on tackling the city’s graffiti scourge.

The City of Melbourne spent almost $30m on a campaign to scrub the city clean by eradicating illegal tagging.

In August, Cr Capp said the council was considering creating an app that would allow people to report graffiti and other issues directly to the council, but it has continued to use its QR code system to obtain information from the public.

On New Year’s Day, Cr Capp responded to the Herald Sun’s exclusive report, branding the graffiti as criminal activity that was “highly frustrating’’.

“It is another act of vandalism by the vandals and it really does give insight I think to the broader public on how challenging this situation is, dealing with vandals.

“It is criminal activity. We do take it seriously.’’

Cr Capp said the council had initiated discussions with Victoria Police.

“We’re not at a point yet where we need necessarily to have a joint operation.’’

CCTV footage would be used to track down the culprits, she said.

“Once we’ve made that assessment we’ll be able to discuss with VicPol, what other measures are necessary.’’

Once the fake QR codes were identified, they were being replaced quickly, Cr Capp said.

“The QR codes really have been a key part of our responsiveness to tagging.’’

Council cleaners removed 150,000 square metres of graffiti and tagging in 2022.

A City of Melbourne spokeswoman told the Herald Sun it was the first time vandalism of this nature had taken place in the municipality.

“We’re aware of an issue involving the vandalism of council bins with replacement QR codes,” she said.

“We’re investigating the issue with Victoria Police, and council is working to remove the QR stickers as they are found.”

Almost $30m was put towards a new campaign by the City of Melbourne to scrub the city clean by eradicating illegal graffiti. Picture: Tony Gough

The council insists the tampered bins have not led to an increase in graffiti across the municipality.

“The introduction of the QR code reporting system has seen residents and visitors play a greater role in reporting graffiti – and allowing council to allocate resourcing more effectively to keep our streets clean,” the spokeswoman said.

City visitor Sarah Valinoti, 24, and her partner Josh Carter, 24, told the Sunday Herald Sun that it was “extremely disappointing” to see the bins’ QR codes being taken over by pranksters.

“It’s really sad that this has happened because the council is doing the right thing in trying to care about the environment and get rid of rubbish and graffiti, it’s disrespectful,” Ms Valinoti said.

Mr Carter said he hoped the council would immediately fix the issue.

“It’s extremely disappointing that they (vandals) have done this, the council needs to fix it as soon as possible,” he said.

Ratepayers Victoria spokesman Dean Hurlston said: “Once again councils have been outwitted and duped by savvy troublemakers.”

“We wonder how much this will cost ratepayers to fix,” he said.

“What is it about councils and smart ways to do business? Are they mutually exclusive?”

Victoria Police was contacted for comment.