Toronto residents receive fake parking ticket emails

Emails with the black and red Impark logo circulating.

Thestar.com
Jan. 25, 2017
By Azzura Lalani

Emails masquerading as originating from parking giant Impark have been making their way to Torontonians’ inboxes, asking them to pay parking fees they haven’t incurred.

“We have no way of knowing how many people received these emails,” said Impark’s corporate development senior vice president Julian Jones in an email to the Star.

“We do not know where the emails are coming from, although a couple of recipients indicated they had originated from somewhere in Russia,” said Jones. “The individuals who have received the emails appear to be random individuals, and do not match any list of Impark customers.”

At a first glance, the emails seem legit. They have the black and red Impark logo and at the bottom is a copyright and an option to unsubscribe from the message.

There is a ticket number, the violation, fine and amount due, but the text in the email is riddled with typos.

“The City of Toronto records indicate that a parking tickets issued to the vehicle described below has not been paid. This fines and applicable penalties area past due and must be paid within the next 10 business days,” it reads.

Hyperlinks offer to take the email recipient to see photos “taken by the bylaw officer who issued (the) ticket.”

This is the second time in as many months that a fake email issue has cropped up for Impark.

In early December a similar email was sent to people around Canada, including Vancouver and Montreal.

Jones’ advice for anyone receiving the emails is not to click on any of the links and to delete them immediately.

“We do not correspond via email regarding patrol or enforcement. Any unexpected email correspondence regarding parking enforcement, apparently coming from Impark, should be treated as fake email.”

If you’ve received these emails or have been the victim of this scam, please contact reporter Azzura Lalani at alalani@thestar.ca.