Happy Good Friday Attila,
This week city workers have been scrambling to remove well designed but fraudulent stickers from about 1,700 parking meters across the island. The stickers are an almost exact copy of the official sticker that contains a QR code, allowing drivers to pay for parking.
The Takeaway
The DOT has released images of the fraudulent stickers - see below. The key difference between them is that the the QR code will direct you to parksmarter.app instead of parksmarter.com. I know, it's a real subtle difference but a big one.
parksmarter
I just tested both sites and both are offline, so I suspect that the city has shut down mobile pay services and is working with law enforcement while they manage the crisis. Roger Morton, director of the city Department of Transportation Services is warning the public not to download any of these parking payment apps for now.
At this time it's unclear how many meters were compromised or how many victims have had their credit cards or personal information stolen. If you or someone you know paid for parking in this way, be sure to check your credit card statement for fraudulent charges. Criminals will use them within the first few days of being stolen, before victims are able to close them down.
Stay safe out there.
-A