AUSTIN, Texas — Paying for a service and not getting it is what Jacob Culberson, the City of Austin's acting parking enterprise manager, said is happening to people looking to park around Austin.
"They had entered in some information trying to pay for their parking session, and their parking session wouldn't start," Culberson said.
After an investigation, a City enforcement officer discovered that those customers had been using a fake website.
Drivers searching for the Park ATX app on Google instead visited a similar website that was actually paid advertisement.
"It was a website from a company called Am5.com, pretending to be our City of Austin Pay to Park app," Culberson said.
Austinite Cameron Holmes noticed the fake site has the same logo as the real Park ATX app.
"The only way I would know it's different is just because I already know how the actual app is set up, and it's kind of different from that. But especially if you're traveling or a tourist, I could definitely see you getting scammed, for sure," Holmes said.
Other drivers like Paul Violand said the fake site is worrisome.
"It makes me very nervous, with all the scams out there. And yeah, you have to be very careful," Violand said.
Culberson said the City filed a report with Google's Ad Services about the fake website and warns that if you or your loved ones accidentally used this site for parking services to act fast.
"Contact your credit card or debit card services to discuss your options," Culberson said. "This may include monitoring of your account for unauthorized transactions or securing your account against potential fraud."
Also make sure to file a complaint with support services in the Real Park ATX app, so the City has a record of it.
For anyone parking at any paid spots in Austin, City staff recommend using the actual Park ATX smartphone app that can be downloaded in the app store instead of searching for it in a web browser.