CONSUMER

Salt Lake City officials warn of a new parking fee scam

Jan 27, 2025, 6:59 PM | Updated: Jan 28, 2025, 5:28 pm

SALT LAKE CITY — City officials were warning Monday about an emerging parking fee scam sent out to phones via text message.

According to Julie Crookston, deputy director of Salt Lake City Public Services, the scam is sophisticated. And it has the potential to trick people because the text message includes the city logo.

Diane Cooper told KSL 5 she received the message Monday morning from a Montreal area code.

“This is a notice from Salt Lake City,” the message read. “Your vehicle has an unpaid parking invoice of $4.35. To avoid a late fees of 35$, please settle your balance promptly.”

The message then instructed her to follow a link.

Immediately suspicious

Cooper said she immediately thought the text was suspicious.

“I don’t drive into the city anymore,” Cooper explained. “If I go in, I take TRAX, because then I’d have to find parking. So that was kind of suspicious. And then I thought, $35 on a $4.35 ticket? I’ve paid my granddaughter’s tickets, and they were never $4.35.”

Cooper said despite a couple of grammatical mistakes in the message, she could see how someone could easily be deceived by it.

“It looked really good, and my biggest fear was for my friends who aren’t suspicious like I am,” Cooper said. “I put it on Facebook because I was worried others would get stuck with it.”

What if you’ve already paid the parking fee scam?

Crookston urged people not to click on the link or provide any information, but said it appeared the link went to a payment site unaffiliated with the city and its vendors.

“If you have clicked on the link and paid, we strongly recommend you reach out to your bank immediately and tell them that was a fraudulent payment that you made,” Crookston said. “You can also reach out to the Federal Trade Commission and report the payment … to them.”

Crookston said people can check on and resolved any outstanding citations through Salt Lake City’s payment portal and selecting “Parking and Civil Citations,” where users can view citations and related photographs and pay any charges through a secure online system.

 

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Salt Lake City officials warn of a new parking fee scam