Drivers urged to avoid new 'skimming' car park scam - 'Trust your gut'

Police and councils have issued fresh warnings across the country following a surge in parking scams this summer. Drivers have reported incidents such as receiving fake messages about unpaid tickets or having their card details stolen from tampered car park machines. As fraudsters become increasingly sophisticated, BBC scams expert Nick Stapleton lited ways drivers can avoid falling victim to some of the most common tricks.

The first tip is checking whether your fine has the following three details: vehicle registration, the time of the offence and the location where it happened. If it doesn't have these three things, then it is a scam, according to the expert.

He said: "A genuine fine will always come in writing and will be left on your windscreen, handed to you in person or arrive in the post."

There are three types of fines:

• A penalty charge notice issued by the council
• A fixed penalty notice issued by police usually linked to offences such as speeding
• A parking charge notice issued by a private company. Stapleton added that parking charge notices "aren't technically fines, they're invoices for breaching parking rules", so you don't always have to pay them but "check carefully before refusing to pay".

The second tip is not clicking on links in texts. The out of the blue texts claiming you owe money for an unpaid parking ticket usually come with a link you are told to click on to pay the fine. The texts also use urgent language, making people panic.

Some scam texts might say your licence will be revoked if you don't pay for the ticket but "that's not how it works, you won't lose your licence". Some links in these scam texts take you to websites that look like official government ones. If you're not sure a website is legitimate you can "click around on the other links".

"If you click through on other links on the page you'll notice that they don't work and that's a clear sign it's a clone site," Stapleton explained.

Thirdly, you should restarting your device and changing passwords in case you clicked on a suspicious links. Restert your device so scammers lose connection and cannot gain access to it. If you've filled in your details on the link make sure you change your passwords to any accounts with money in. Lastly, call your bank's fraud department to inform about the message.

You should also check for skimming devices for parking machines. Often, fraudsters will attach a physical device to contactless payment reader on a parking machine and when you try to pay, the machine displays a card declined message.

"While you walk off to try another machine, the skimming device has already stolen your card details," Stapleton said.

To check whether the machine has been tampered with, look for an extra sticker placed on top of the contactless payment button, look for the correct logos and branding and, most importantly, trust your instincts.

"Contactless readers should look like they're part of the machine. If something looks bolted on or mismatched, it's best not to risk it," he said. "Always trust your gut."