Over 1,000 QR codes appeared on gravestones in Munich, Germany. When scanned, the codes revealed the names of the departed buried in the grave and their location. A local gardening business, whose name has not been made public, was behind the QR codes. The company had been tasked with cleaning the cemetery’s graves with Alfred Zanker, a senior manager, explaining that stickers helped his employees keep track of which headstones had already undergone maintenance. The repair process is relatively complex as the headstone has to be dismantled and transported away. Afterwards, the the stain is sanded down and the stone is put back in place. The police estimate the total damage to be in the mid-six-figure range, i.e. around Rs 4.5 crore or 500,000 euros. The cemeteries in Munich permit the use of QR codes so that relatives of the dead can have access to online memorials filled with photographs and other digital keepsakes. However, those codes are applied to the gravestones via an etching or metal plate.
