A local council has issued an urgent warning to all those who use a smartphone app to pay for their car parking app after a local user was fraudulently charged £230 for a £1 session.
The woman was using a car park in Connah’s Quay in Wales and believed that she was giving her bank details to the popular PayByPhone app for her car. Parking charges at the space in North Walesis generally 50p for four hours, or £1 for the whole day. However, Flintshire Council are now investigating after the woman took to Facebook to complain about the situation.
She said: I used the app to pay. I ended up being scammed and £230 coming out of my bank.
“The first withdrawal was £1, the second was £59.99, and the third was £170.
“It shows up on your account as the Happy Hormone.
“They apply for the money from your bank account as ‘music’.
“Just be careful everyone. I’d never used an app to park there before, and I won’t be using an app to park anywhere again.”
PayByPhone have admitted that it has already shut down a number of fraudulent sites posing as the official app, but Flintshire Council have also contacted the company to find out what happened.
Katie Wilby, Flintshire’s chief officer for Streetscene and Transportation, said “We have been alerted to a potential fraudulent parking app, which we are currently investigating with our official provider, after a report from a customer that she had experienced online banking fraud when trying to pay for parking recently.
“We wish to warn people to take extra care and be on guard against scammers when paying online for your parking.”
The unnamed woman later claimed the money back from her bank, but motorists are being urged to be extra vigilant, with a spokesperson for PayByPhone saying: “We’re in the process of shutting these fraudulent sites down.”