If you’re interested in keeping yourself safe from scams, one of the most important things you can do is learn more about scams you may not have thought about before. Ticketing scams, where someone misleads you into thinking you’ve received a traffic ticket, are surprisingly common, and if you don’t know about them, you may run a high chance of getting scammed by them. Here are five of the most common ticketing scam types, along with some information about avoiding them.
1. Fake Tickets on Your Windshield
Most often, if you get a ticket for parking illegally, the police officer who wrote you the ticket will put the ticket on your windshield. That means many people, when they see a windshield ticket, will just assume it’s legitimate. The problem is you should never just assume a ticket is legitimate. Someone may have created fake tickets and put them on your windshield, hoping you would pay the fee without looking too far into it. If you get a ticket, you should be able to go to your city’s official website to pay it.
2. Someone Else’s Tickets on Your Windshield
A sneaky way that someone might try to get out of paying for a ticket is simply to put their ticket on someone else’s windshield. Often, tickets may only include information like the license plate number and the type of car, so if you don’t take a close look at those pieces of information, it looks like a completely legitimate ticket, because it is. Always check the information on the ticket against the place where you were parking and your car’s information.
3. Fake Parking Attendants
It is a completely legitimate option for many events to offer parking attendants, who collect cash as vehicles arrive at a lot and allow them to come inside. However, you need to make sure you’re at a legitimate parking lot if you’re going to do this. It’s completely possible that someone may just find an empty parking lot and set up shop. When the event is over, you might come back to the lot to find that all the cars have been hit with parking tickets or even towed.
4. Fake Sheriff Calls
With this scam, you’ll receive a call from someone who claims they’re with the local sheriff’s office or parking authority. They’ll claim that you have a ticket you didn’t pay and that you need to pay the total in full or something horrible will happen—like you’ll be arrested. If you ever receive a phone call claiming to be from a legitimate organization that has a threatening tone, immediately hang up and call the number that the organization has on its official website. It’s almost always a scammer.
5. Fake Red Light Camera Tickets
If you ever get an email informing you that you’ve received a ticket for running a red light, you should always be skeptical. Scammers know that due to the nature of driving, it’s common for people to run yellow lights, and they may sometimes wonder if a red light camera may have caught them running a red light instead. These scammers email people, often with seemingly legitimate information like areas you drive frequently. Remember that an official red light ticket notice should come through the mail, not in your email.
How To Avoid Ticketing Scams
Just knowing about ticketing scams is an important step to avoiding them altogether. You can also be sure not to click on any links in emails claiming you have something you need to pay or requests for cash payment; a legitimate request for payment should be made through the mail, and there should be an official website where you can pay the local transportation authorities. You can also use PeopleFinders to keep yourself safe from scam calls.
With the PeopleFinders mobile app, you don’t have to worry about getting scam calls that are trying to scare you out of your money. Instead, you can only take the calls that may actually be important to you. With fewer calls to deal with and more comfort in using your phone on a regular basis, PeopleFinders can help you stay safe and drive more happily.
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