Motorists in Epping Forest have been warned about scammers mimicking a parking app to steal money and “harvest” personal data.
Since the City of London Corporation introduced parking charges in the forest, the RingGo app for online parking payments has been one way to pay alongside telephone and ticket machines.
But Essex County Council has shared advice on avoiding a known clone app after a walker reported having money taken from his account after downloading it.
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The walker said he was “taken aback” by the fake app, which “looked just like RingGo”.
He had decided to install the app after getting home from a trip to the forest during which his friends used it.
Googling the RingGo app led to what looked like the real site with a link to download.
After entering his details, he received a message that said ‘you have subscribed to Media Craze’.
He said: “The website was a scam, which looks exactly like RingGo.
RingGo
“Luckily, we were at home and not going straight into the forest so could get on top of it.”
Fortunately despite trying to make multiple transactions the scammers were only able to take one pound out before a second transaction for £1.45 was stopped and the bank cancelled his credit card.
The scam victim added that he was concerned with parking for Epping Forest being moved online, especially as it could impact older people who are not used to the technology.
A county council…
