Local BBB and police advice for avoiding parking lot scams

With technological advances come increased opportunities for people to fall victim to sophisticated hoaxes, said Better Business Bureau's Whitney Quick, regional director for Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois.

One scam utilizes fake parking tickets appearing to be authentic.

Quick outlined a possible scenario.

"You park in a legal parking zone or pay to park on the street or in a garage. While you are away from your car, scammers use high-tech, hand-held printers to make a fake ticket and leave it on your car's windshield," she said. "The phony citation usually asks you to pay online or via PayPal. One case used a QR code directing victims to a fake payment website."

Wes Blair,Cape Girardeau police chief

Wes Blair,Cape Girardeau police chief

Cape Girardeau Police Chief Wes Blair said he is not aware of such scam artists operating in the city, but does have some pertinent advice for avoiding bunco artists.

"We don't use QR codes on our citations," Blair said. "If someone feels a ticket is not real, contact our municipal court. On the ticket, we provide a motorist with an appearance date and the court's phone number. If the ticket is not legit, the court will most likely not have a record of the citation unless one of my officers forgot to turn one in. Calling the court is foolproof way of determining legitimacy."

Scammers, Quick said, are using false ticketing in an attempt to obtain personal information since more people today tend to pay such fines online.

"A credit card number is what bad actors are typically after," Quick said.