City Of San Diego Issues Scam Alert For Fraudulent Parking Ticket Texts

The City of San Diego has issued a warning about a new scam targeting residents through fake text messages, which falsely claim to be "parking invoices" and direct recipients to fraudulent websites for payment.

City officials posted about the new parking ticket scam to its social media channels on Wednesday. They emphasized that these text notices, which usually come from a (514) area code, are not legitimate and stated they are working to take down the offending websites.
This latest announcement follows a December 17, 2024, warning from the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) about a related scam involving fake parking tickets placed on vehicles throughout the city. The fraudulent tickets mimicked official citations and instructed recipients to make monetary "donations" to various organizations. SDPD clarified at the time that legitimate parking citations in San Diego are only issued by uniformed Police Officers or Parking Enforcement Officers and never request payment in the form of donations.

In December, SDPD shared examples of the fake tickets to raise awareness and encouraged residents to report suspicious tickets or ticketing activity to the department. The city and SDPD are urging the public to remain cautious and verify any parking-related communications for authenticity. Both agencies continue to investigate the situation, aiming to identify those responsible for these scams.

Residents seeking to verify or pay parking citations are encouraged to use the city's official parking citation portal at sandiego.gov/parking/citations.

Originally published on January 15, 2025.