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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's capital city is cautioning people to ignore a new parking ticket scam, which might be connected to similar scams emerging elsewhere in the country.
KSL.com staff were among the many who received a mysterious text message claiming to be from Salt Lake City on Monday morning.
"This is a notice from Salt Lake City. Your vehicle has an unpaid parking invoice of $4.35. To avoid a late fee of 35$, please settle your balance promptly," it reads. "To avoid late fees, access your file by typing the following link in your browser."
The text contains an image featuring the official Salt Lake City logo, urging recipients to go to slcpark.com. However, city officials say that link is not where parking ticket payments are made. They say people should not click on it, reply or provide any payment information.
It's unclear who is behind the scam, but Aaron Bentley, the city's chief information officer, said it appears to be similar to a scam "cities around the country have recently encountered."
Multiple news outlets have reported similar scams popping up around Boston, Denver and Milwaukee this month alone. The messages have included the same language as the one sent out around the Salt Lake City area, but with logos matching each impacted city.
"Salt Lake City is currently working with legal entities to address the matter," Bentley said in a statement. "We do not believe internal City systems have been compromised."
The "parking and civil citations" section of the city's payments portal is where Salt Lake City stores parking ticket information, city officials added. People can type in their license plate number to find any outstanding citations. They can also type in their ticket information to make payments online.
