Fake Parking tickets direct drivers to malicious web sites

Hi All,

I copied the text below from the San Francisco Parking Dept web site. (I would have listed a link but it did not work easily.) I was checking the holiday parking situation for someone. As if city parking is not hard enough, some low life fakes a parking ticket and then infects your computer. I looked on Snopes2.com to confirm veracity but did not find a listing. However, I bet the SF Parking Dept is telling the truth. Sounds like the practice is not limited to SF. I have every reason to believe that I was viewing the real SF Parking Dept web site.

>>>Warning: Avoid fake parking tickets
Internet criminals are using fake parking tickets in some cities to direct drivers to Web sites that will infect their computers with viruses and other harmful software. If you get a parking ticket or notice in San Francisco, only go to Web addresses (URLs) starting with www.sfmta.com/ or services.sfgov.org/ to resolve your ticket or notice.
Provided you have PDF-reading software loaded on your computer, the SFMTA will never ask you to download software in order to validate your parking ticket. Be very suspicious of Web sites that ask you to download software in order to validate or process your parking ticket.


Kelly

......a pox on them!!!!! One can only hope they get caught.....I believe the charge is Impersonating a Peace Officer. Should keep them off the streets for a few months and who knows, they might make some new friends while incarcerated.

alan

I read somewhere that there are, in some states, cameras that take pictures of cars going through yellow/red lights and then you get a ticket in the mail.

The really bad parts are; different states have different yellow light/picture taking times and many people are being sent tickets that where not driving their car at the time (maybe someone has borrowed the car?). anyway, it sounds like another revenue maker in bad taste I'll reread it and get the states that are doing it.

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rkj
I read somewhere that there are, in some states, cameras that take pictures of cars going through yellow/red lights and then you get a ticket in the mail.

We have that here in Knoxville, TN. The way it's set up here, if you get all your wheels past the stop line on yellow you're OK. I don't really have a problem with that. What caused the cameras to get installed was the fact that we had a bunch of people who didn't think a light was really red until the people with the green light pulled out and started honking their horns. It was amazing to watch a whole parade just drive through a red light like it wasn't there. When people drive like that you get red light cameras.

John

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rkj
I read somewhere that there are, in some states, cameras that take pictures of cars going through yellow/red lights and then you get a ticket in the mail.

The really bad parts are; different states have different yellow light/picture taking times and many people are being sent tickets that where not driving their car at the time (maybe someone has borrowed the car?). anyway, it sounds like another revenue maker in bad taste I'll reread it and get the states that are doing it.

as far as i know it is pretty common in normal to large-sized cities.

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John Yust

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rkj
I read somewhere that there are, in some states, cameras that take pictures of cars going through yellow/red lights and then you get a ticket in the mail.

We have that here in Knoxville, TN. The way it's set up here, if you get all your wheels past the stop line on yellow you're OK. I don't really have a problem with that. What caused the cameras to get installed was the fact that we had a bunch of people who didn't think a light was really red until the people with the green light pulled out and started honking their horns. It was amazing to watch a whole parade just drive through a red light like it wasn't there. When people drive like that you get red light cameras.

John

Where I live, there are typically 5 to 6 cars that will continue to make the left turn AFTER the light has changed to red.
We used to have phoot radar but too many politicians were getting caught so it died. The 'red light' cameras are still in place and sending out tickets but there is no way to link the cars/drivers with the government mandated insurance/licensing so most peopl just use the tickets as drink coasters...or toilet paper

We have them here in Chicago too. Mostly in the suburbs actually, but there used to be one down town that was goofy. The light would be red with a green right turn arrow and the camera would get triggered and send you a ticket if you went through the green arrow right as the other lanes got their red. They finally fixed it it seems, but it's just the kind of stupidity we should all come to expect I suppose...

Where I live, we have 6 traffic lights, and I've never seen anyone run one of them when it's red. For years the biggest problem was that at one of the lights where it's legal to make a LEFT turn on a red (from a one-way onto a one-way, at a quirky roundabout sort of thing), half the people never did, so sometimes you'd have to sit there behind someone for an extra minute. Recently the town put up a sign saying a left turn on red is permitted, so that problem should be lessened.

As a friend noted, when you're driving in a small town you have to be polite, because if you're a jerk, the person you're being a jerk to is very likely to know you personally.

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Dave
'91 325iX

We have many of those here in Los Angeles. The setup was that the cameras and collection of monies were subcontracted out to the manufacturer/installer of the systems. Unfortunately, the individual who works for the city and is supposed to monitor the influx of monies from the subcontractor to the city cofffers really wasn't doing his job. Millions of dollars of ticket fees went uncollected for quite some time before anyone realized it!!!! Gov't at it's best, no?

alan