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Denver woman warns about fake parking ticket scam

Emailed ticket connects to "promotional offer"
Posted at 5:12 PM, May 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-19 20:50:40-04

DENVER -- No one likes to get a parking ticket, but when Barbara Olds received one by email, something just didn't seem right.

The only time we get tickets is when we park on the street, and it’s street sweeping day,” said Olds, who said the ticket just happened to come the same day as street sweeping, “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, we forgot and left one of the cars out there.’”

When she looked a little closer at the so-called ticket though, she saw several red flags.

"The first line is, 'You got a parking ticket!' with an exclamation point, and I thought that doesn’t sounds necessarily like something the police would send you," said Olds. "It also just ends with 'Sincerely, The Police Department' and doesn't say which one."

When Denver7's Jaclyn Allen called the number listed on the email, a recorded message claimed it was an offer for a free medical alert device, with no mention of a parking ticket.

Denver Public Works said even private lots will usually contact them to issue tickets if someone is parked illegally.

"We write the tickets, we put them on your car," said Heather Burke, a spokeswoman for Denver Public Works. "The City of Denver would never reach out to you over email that you received a ticket."

While Olds didn't fall for the fake ticket, she said if someone wasn't paying attention, it would be easy to. So, she is warning everyone fake parking tickets are all too real.

"It didn’t take a lot to put two and two together and realize this could be a scam," said Olds.