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Dozens scammed by person posing as parking attendant

By Carl Willis
By Carl Willis

ATLANTA — While Atlanta United fans were cheering the team to victory Tuesday night, dozens of them, including Melissa Vilders, had no idea they’d been fooled by a fake parking lot attendant in Northeast Atlanta.

Vilders told Channel 2's Carl Willis, "They had big signs saying Atlanta United Parking and they were waving us down, directing us to go to the Fastsigns parking lot," near Dodd Stadium.

Vilders said a man on North Avenue took $20 cash in exchange for a ticket in her dash.

“You’re in a hurry,” Vilders told Willis. “You’re excited to go see the game, so you think it’s fine.”

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The only problem was the “parking attendant” had no right to sell parking spots there.

Vilders said she saw no-parking signs, but the “attendant” said that it was completely OK for her to park there, telling her, "This is what we do during game day. You pay. You have your ticket, you’re fine. You’re not going to get booted."

admit one 

But, that’s exactly what happened.

After the game about 20 to 25 soccer fans came out to discover they’d have to pay $75 to get the boots off their cars.

Vilders said she called the business manager at Fastsigns who said the lot is in compliance with the city, but that it’s an ongoing issue.The manager at Fastsigns even posted additional signs warning customers not to pay any person, for any reason.

People scammed at Atlanta United game 

“I think the sign is not working,” Vilders said, “because a lot of the people are falling under the scam."

Police told Willis that there’s little they can do, even if they caught the fake attendants.

They said that they could only charge them with disorderly conduct, which is not much of a deterrent if you ask Vilders, who is sending a warning to other fans and visitors.

“I’m from the city. I know a hustle when I see one,” Vilders said, “but I got duped into it, again, because the amount of police in the area.”

Cox Media Group

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