Detroit parking ticket text scam has many on alert when checking their phones
DETROIT (FOX 2) - It is a time to keep a watchful eye of your text messages as a new parking ticket scam is making the rounds. The text looks and feels like it's coming from the City of Detroit.
It’s scam season, and they even picked someone at FOX 2. Ironically, our colleague who fields calls for the Problem Solvers hotline. Turns out, she most definitely wasn’t the only one.
"First it scared me. I thought, how could I have this overdue parking ticket?" said Katy Baetz-Matthews of Fox 2 Problem Solvers.
This week Baetz-Matthews got a text message that looked like it was from the City of Detroit saying she had an overdue parking ticket, and to click to pay to avoid a $35 late fee.
"Thefirst thing I saw was that the area code for the number that came from was 438, I believe, and that's Montreal," said Baetz-Matthews.
She had not parked in Detroit in a while and after fielding hundreds of these scam reports from viewers over the last decade for the FOX 2 Problem Solvers, the amounts the scammers requested seemed weird too.
"They might get you for that $4.35, but they're after your credit card information," said FOX 2's Jessica Dupnack.
"Well right, absolutely, yes, because then it will never stop," Baetz-Matthews responded.
She says a lot of people would have just paid it to avoid the late fee.
"What did you do when you realized this isn't right?" asked Dupnack.
"Well, I sent it to Fox 2 because I got it at home, but I felt like if they got me, they're going to get someone else," said Baetz-Matthews.
"We don't call, we don't text," said Detroit Chief Information Officer Art Thompson.
The City of Detroit’s parking department, that is what Thompson says. This latest scam came on the city’s radar with residents calling, saying something smelled fishy.
"This is, unfortunately, the more common approach to trying to scam people out of dollars," said Thompson.
We know parking tickets and fees are real – if you get one from the City of Detroit, it will come by mail.
Art and his team are monitoring the scam closely and don’t have a scope on just how many people were targeted.
"It's really about people trying to be conniving and sneaky. It is unfortunate that people stoop so low," said Thompson.