Car parking scams are on the rise – here are key tips from experts to stay safe
Drivers throughout the country are warned about the increasing number of parking frauds that began to emerge during the summer.
Fake text messages, fraudulent QR codes and even tampered with parking machines are some of the methods used by scammers to deceive drivers because they design new ways to steal money.
Here are some important tips for the drivers to make sure that they do not foul a parking deception:
Check important details about the fine
Nick Stapleton BBC SCAM expert says that legal parking notifications will always contain three special details.
“Among the real parking penalties, vehicle recording, crime time and place will take place.”
If these three details are not available, communication is a scam, Stapelton says.
Drivers may receive three types of fine: a penalty fee notification given by the Council, a fixed penalty notification given by the police or a parking fee notification given by a private company.
It should be clear what kind of fine is imposed, but it should be careful that scammers are widely posing as DVSA, private companies or state institutions such as police.
Be careful against scam text
One of the most common ways to launch a park deception of Fraudster is to send a fraudulent text to thousands of numbers. They’re going to look for a strange person who has recently used a parking lot.
These texts will probably demand urgency and warn a higher fine to avoid paying quickly. In addition, they will usually threaten the results such as prosecution, cancellation of driver licenses and ruined credit score.
Most will include a link to a website where the buyer will be asked to enter into details such as license number, personal information and bank details.
Some of them will be designed to look like a legitimate government websites. The best way to determine whether they are fake is always to check the domain that needs to start with ‘www.gov.uk’ or try to click other links on the page, which will probably not work.
DVSA warned that many of them will sign the text that seem to be representing the agency, but they do not make a fine. You can notify the SCAM text messages to the National Cyber Security Center.
Pay attention to fake QR codes
A newer parking format is the use of counterfeit QR codes, which are sometimes adhered to parking machines called ‘quing’.
Scanning them will take the drivers to a website that acts as if they are associated with the Council or Parking Company that runs the location to steal financial information.
Claire Webb, the director of action fraud, said: uz We call on and control people to stop and control QR codes.
Pay attention to e -mails and texts that may contain QR codes or bandit codes that may be tampered in open areas. If you doubt, contact the organization directly. “
If you have doubts, the group advises you to go to the website of the relevant institution to find another way to scan the code and instead of paying.
Check card readers to tamper
A more sophisticated deception that emerges during the summer is the use of card readers tampered in parking machines.
The British Park Association (BPA) may always be incredibly difficult to detect when using drivers to check the card readers for the signs of tampering.
Fraud will usually be performed by placing a hacked card reader on the original and making a sticker to make it look legitimate.
An indicator that a driver could be the victim of one of these frauds, the machine that wants the car to be rejected. If there is a scam reader, it will probably receive the details of the card that needs to be canceled immediately.
