Yesterday, a Bay Area resident told their story on social media – of how they lost $665 after using a bogus ticket machine at a local car park. This happened after they thought they were paying for a regular parking spot, but it turned out that the sign they used was not part of the real car park, and has instead been created by fraudsters. It goes without saying that these days, some of these scammers can make convincingly good signs that look the part, despite being completely fake.

This happened at 1401 Folsom Parking St in San Francisco and the victim genuinely believed that they’d paid the actual car park company. Often, scammers will create hyper realistic signs and even if they only stay up for a couple of hours, they can easily make thousands of dollars in the process.

Years ago, most car parks used coins to accept payment, however a growing number have since moved over to card-based payments for convenience. The issue with this, is that card details can easily be collected by deviants. This is even more likely if you’re elderly or have little experience with such things.

On a brighter note, the victim may still be able to get their money back. They have been advised to contact their banks and see if it’s possible to reverse the charges. If this isn’t doable then it looks like it will be a very costly mistake for them – while also exposing the dark and murky world of credit card fraud.