Yesterday, locals vented their fury on social media based on a text message scam that reached the phones of many San Diegans. Here, the scam asked for a one-time payment of $4.35 to avoid a later payment of $35. According to the image below, the text was from a website named San Diego Park which was based on an unpaid parking notice.
Despite looking fairly legit, eagle-eyed San Diego residents were quick to dismiss the message due to its lack of consistency. Here, the first price was listed as ‘4.35$’ while the second price was labeled ‘$35’. Although subtle, the placing of the dollar sign showed that this was not the work of an official message.
Quickly, news spread across websites such as Facebook and other social media platforms where locals furiously raged at the message and its deviant intentions. Some also laughed at the small price of $4.35. However, others were quick to point out that the low price may have been a tactical strategy. Sometimes, scams do not even take the initial payment, but instead use the payment page to extract the entire bank account of the unsuspecting victim.
In short, while this message may not succeed in tricking the average person, it could only need to succeed once to prove profitable. Because of this, residents are advised to proceed with caution when dealing with spoof text messages.