Costa Rica News – Just in case there were not enough scams going on in Costa Rica when it comes to Real Estate, Commodities and Sweepstakes, we can add one more on a more local level.
The current scam deals with parking meters that have been place in and around the greater metropolitan area of San Jose, Costa
Rica. The victim will become aware of the fact they have been taken advantage of when they pay their annual Marchamo for their vehicle.
The Costa Rica parking meter scam occurs like this:
- The victim pulls into a parking place that requires a parking meter ticket.
- A person acting like a “cuidacarros”, car guard, will approach the victim and offer them to either purchase a ticket or go get them one from the meter.
- The driver leaves and the “cuidacarros”, car guard, never puts the ticket on the vehicle.
- The parking enforcement officer arrives at the vehicle to find that there is no parking meter ticket
- The “cuidacarros”, car guard, removes the parking ticket that was just placed on the vehicle so that the victim does not know they were fined.
- The victim returns and pays the “cuidacarros”, car guard, ¢ 1,000 an hour for the ticket that normally costs ¢ 660 an hour.
- The victim has no idea about the fine they received until they go to pay their marchamo, during which they find out they have a ¢ 6,000 parking fine to pay in order to get their marchamo stickers.
Although this does not usually in most cases leave you flat broke and busted, it is a pain and will cause your wallet to be a little lighter.
Watch out for this and always try to purchase the parking meter tickets yourself or make sure that when you do purchase one you place it on your vehicle.
