North Texas police warn about fake parking ticket scam
The Hurst Police Department is warning shoppers at North East Mall to be aware of a potential scam.
In a Facebook post, the department said a shopper alerted mall security to what appeared to be a parking ticket on their vehicle. The ticket had a QR code prompting the recipient to visit an Instagram account (the department obscured the QR code and account name on the image of the ticket).
"We recommend not scanning the QR code out of an abundance of caution because it could lead to a malicious link or malicious website," the Facebook post said.
The ticket showed signs of being fake. The license plate number was listed as "1ABC234" and the violation listed was for an expired meter; North East Mall does not have parking meters.
Police urged anyone to examine parking tickets carefully. If it is a scam, "the license plate, date, and location will likely not match the vehicle, date, or location where it is found," the department said.
A spokesperson for Hurst PD said there were no reports of anyone being victimized by the scam. Representatives for North East Mall have not yet responded to a request for more details.
