If you got a strange text message this weekend claiming you have an unpaid parking invoice in Denver, you’re not alone.
The City and County of Denver says the message is a scam.
It was a text that took Denver resident Samantha Oberg by surprise.
“I received a text message from my father asking me to be more careful parking downtown. Since I was borrowing his car, I was like, super confused. I didn't understand what was going on. I was sending him the receipts of the parking lot that I had parked in,” she told Denver7.
That’s when Oberg’s dad forwarded her a text that he’d received, warning of an unpaid parking invoice.
“It was legit and everything. They had the Denver logo. They had a little mint mark in the background. It looked very official,” she said.
But a closer look gave it away.
“There was a misplaced period in there,” she recalled.
Not to mention, the text came from a Toronto area code.
When you type in the URL in question, you are taken to a webpage that looks nearly identical to what you'd see on the City and County of Denver website.
However, this is what the actual “Pay a Parking Ticket” page on the city's website looks like.
Many of you have been calling our newsroom and sharing similar stories on social media this weekend.
On Sunday, the city confirmed they did not send the text—instead, it was a scam attempting to obtain your personal and financial information.
Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) says it does not use text messaging to notify people about unpaid parking tickets — only direct mail.
It’s not just Denver, similar texts have been reported in places like Boston, Houston, and San Diego in the past few days.
“Governments are a frequent target for bad actors, and we are tracking other municipalities that are also seeing similar phishing attacks,” said Merlin Namuth, Denver’s chief information security officer. “As a city, we are always vigilant to these types of attacks.”
Denver’s Department of Technology Services is now issuing a public warning about the increasing prevalence of cybersecurity scams that appear to have come from the city.
Denver offers the following tips to protect yourself against online scammers:
- Be cautious of suspicious emails, texts, and calls – especially ones that express a sense of urgency or pressure.
- Make sure to check the sender’s email address and all URLs to ensure that the communication is coming from the city: denvergov.org.
- Never click on links or open attachments from unknown senders. If you are unsure if the sender is from the city, call 311.
- Be cautious of unsolicited offers, donations, or requests for personal information.
- Use strong, unique passwords for all online accounts.
- Be mindful of what information you share online.
- Report suspected scams to the appropriate authorities.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.