SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — A 19-year-old man designed counterfeit parking tickets last week and placed them on cars near the beach in Northern California last week in hopes of collecting real payments, authorities said.
The man posted the fake quotes — which included a QR code that linked potential victims to a website to pay a fine — on cars late Wednesday night, Santa Cruz police said.
Investigators don’t know how many fake tickets the man put on cars or how many victims paid the fake fines.
The police arrested the man on Thursday afternoon on suspicion of unlawful use of a computer system and attempted fraud. He denied receiving any payments.
The coastal city of Santa Cruz is about 55 miles south of San Francisco.
