Bogus parking tickets discovered in downtown Asheville

Someone is handing out bogus parking citations in downtown Asheville. Two were discovered , March 4, when a person who received the alleged citation contacted Asheville Parking Services, and another time when a parking enforcement officer noticed one on a car and removed it.

The false citations have the City of Asheville logo on them, making them look official, said Harry Brown, Parking Services Manager.

They also have QR codes on them. “That’s a dead giveaway,” said Brown. “Our citations do not have QR codes on them.”

The false tickets also sport alarmingly high fines on them, much higher fines than the City of Asheville charges. The false ticket says due now: $100 with a late charge of $200. The actual fine for overtime parking is $10.

Authentic City of Asheville citations also have an orange stripe across the top above the words PARKING CITATION.

If anyone believes they’ve received a bogus parking ticket call Asheville Parking Services at 828-259-5759. For more information about parking in the City of Asheville visit, ashevillenc.gov/ParkingServices.

See below an example of an authentic parking ticket and the bogus one.