Perhaps you consider yourself a big fan of hackers and wary of things like phishing emails. But scammers can now come to you directly in the form of fake parking tickets stuck to your windshield.
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That’s the message from a U.S. Postal Service official who warned TikTok about parking ticket scams happening across the country. Creator Johnny America (@_johnnamerica) posted the video on September 5th, and it has been viewed more than 267,000 times so far. In it, he talks about what he has seen.
What is fraud?
“We’re seeing this crazy parking ticket scam all over the city,” he said, without specifying which city. “That’s crazy. The same thing is probably happening in your city.”
He explains that it all started when he found a fake parking ticket with a QR code on his windshield. While this seems like a convenient entry point to pay and have your ticket in hand, Johnny said it’s actually an entry point where you can lose money or get hacked.
“When you get a parking ticket, you think, “Oh, I got a parking ticket.” There’s a QR code on it. Either you pay the idiot you’re trying to trick you into, or you give them access to your phone and they have access to your credit card. [and] All your banking information etc. is stored on your device. ”
He concludes, “The scam is crazy, so be careful.”
@_johnnyamerica parking ticket scammer #tiktok ♬ Original song – _johnnyamerica
Indeed, there has been some recent news about parking ticket scams like the one the author describes.
KABC TV reported Regarding the postal worker fraud incident that occurred on July 31st in Alhambra, Southern California. The article states, “Scammers are printing fake parking tickets and placing them on windshields with QR codes to malicious websites.” The article added that the fake tickets led people to believe the code gave them access to the city’s website.
bit defender listed this type of parking ticket scam among six different parking-related scams. These include QR code stickers on parking meters that function similarly to those on parking tickets, text messages that trick people into thinking they have failed to pay a parking ticket, and people posing as parking wardens. Masu.
The scenario they concocted at the end is particularly dire. “In this scam, when you arrive at the event, an attendant directs you to a nearby parking lot. You pay for parking and receive a payment slip as proof of purchase. However, once the event is over, the person who directed you to park is a fake. Turns out it was a uniformed crook. They took your money and left your car illegally parked. The real land owner then towed your car away. It is.”
people share scam stories
This video motivated people to share their experiences.
“This happened to me on Maui,” said one. “When I called the county to pay the fee, they told me I was not given a parking ticket. I’m so glad I didn’t scan the QR.”
Another user said, “A friend of mine told me earlier today that he got a random and weird parking ticket exactly like this. Wow!”
One said he was “waiting for the bill to be sent home,” as did others who recommended traveling to confirm the ticket was genuine.
After seeing the video, another poster joked, “My misdeed of not paying my parking ticket finally paid off!”
The Daily Dot reached out to the creator via direct message on Instagram and TikTok.
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