LOUISVILLE (WHAS11) – A Louisville parking scam is taking thousands of dollars from drivers and parking lot owners.
Parking managers who spoke to WHAS11’s Anna Prendergast in downtown Louisville say the problem is only getting bigger.
System Parking, a company with 43 lots downtown, says they could be losing thousands of dollars a year from a scam that is pretty convincing.
Alvin Lewis is a manager with System Parking. He says parking scams in the city are getting out of control.
Here’s how the scam works:
You park, and a person comes up to you and says they are the parking attendant. They tell you to pay them usually more than the real cost. A lot of times money is handed over and the deal is done.
The problem is that the person you paid doesn't even work for the parking lot. When you come back from your event, the person is gone, and there’s a chance you have a ticket on your car for not paying the real company to park there.
“Anytime there’s an event downtown or a show, these guys are out,” said Alvin Lewis. “We are constantly chasing them off.”
One of the lots downtown that's been hit several times recently is at 6th Street and Main Street.
WHAS11 News spoke to a man there who didn't want his face on camera. He says he parks at that lot every day and has had numerous encounters with the "fake parking attendants." He says the fake attendants will sometimes charge “$10 a head.” He says he’s seen customers hand over money hundreds of times.
The Mexican restaurant Los Aztecas is right next to the lot. The owner says his customers fall for the scam all the time. They walk out and find out they got a parking ticket.
System Parking says they call the police, but most of the time the scammer is gone by the time help arrives.
The best way to stop the problem is to educate the potential customers.
“All of our attendants will have a shirt on with System Parking on it,” said Lewis.
Besides the uniform, all lots will also always give you a ticket - either by an attendant or printed out after paying in a machine.
