By JACK TRUESDALE | HONOLULU CIVIL BEAT
A phantom organization incorporated in Alaska just weeks ago appears to have orchestrated the hundreds of fraudulent parking stickers that turned up recently on Honolulu’s meters, and two people registered as its officials claim someone else is using their names.
The Honolulu Police Department is investigating the sticker scam that tricks people into submitting parking payments to an unauthorized website.
HPD and the city’s Department of Transportation Services had removed about 200 of the stickers from Chinatown to Waikiki by Thursday afternoon, according to Ian Scheuring, a spokesperson for the mayor. Legitimate stickers remain on about 1,700 meters.
“We believe we have removed all the fake stickers,” Scheuring said.
But who perpetrated the scam remains a mystery.
Before the fraudulent payment page was shut down, a line at the bottom of the site pointed to: “Hawaii Parking Organization.”
“There is no such organization as the Hawaii Parking Organization,” DTS said in a press release.
In fact, Hawaii Parking Organization was registered recently — March 26 — in Alaska as a domestic nonprofit corporation, its articles of incorporation show.
Read more at Honolulu Civil Beat:
Four names are listed: 1 as an agent and 3 as dual positions-incorporators/directors of “Hawaii Parking Organization”. Interesting scam. That is a place to start for the investigators, should they wish to follow that trail.
Registered agent seems to be concocted out of air, the other three are real people that had no idea they were listed and addresses are either old addresses, non existent addresses or real address but person there is ignorant of the whole deal. The problem with online pay systems is they are easily manipulated.
The duo Peltola and friends?
Wow, yet another nonprofit. Is the assembly reaching out?
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