TULSA, Okla. — The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is warning about a new twist on an old scam involving parking tickets.
The BBB says scammers are using new technology to create fake parking tickets that look surprisingly real and official. So, if you find a ticket on your car, and you’re fairly certain you parked legally, this is likely a scam.
“What we’re finding with these parking tickets are they look really legitimate,” said Amie Mitchell with the BBB.
Scammers use handheld printers to make a fake ticket and place it on your windshield. They then ask you to pay the ticket online or via PayPal. They might use QR codes too.
One victim told the BBB they paid $15 to legally park in a garage, got a receipt, put it on the dash and still got a 56 dollar parking ticket.
Unfortunately, the BBB says this is more likely to happen to you if you’re traveling, as the scammers target out-of-state license plates.
“You really want to be careful whatever information you put on the internet on whoever’s website that might be because you could be giving your information to scammers,” Mitchell said.
The BBB says to pay traffic tickets with a credit card when possible because it’s easier to contest fraudulent charges if you learn down the road that you were scammed.