Investigation underway after reports of fake parking ticket invoices in Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A Dallas woman reached out to ABC13, saying she received a fake parking ticket during her recent visit to Houston.

It turns out she was right, and she's not the only one getting fake tickets.

We all know you can't get around Houston easily without a car.

So, when Arnetria Coleman visited this holiday season, she used Turo, an app that lets you rent a car directly through an owner instead of using a rental company.

"Fast forward to the end of January," Coleman said, "I get an email from Turo that said I got a parking ticket. I said, 'That's strange, are you sure?' I called Turo and said I parked my car in the parking garage of IAH Airport. I don't think that ticket is mine. 'Oh yes, that ticket is yours. The host has provided us proof of the invoice, and they paid it.'"

Park Houston doesn't patrol the airport, but the $155 invoice with the agency's logo looks legitimate.

So, Arnetria called to verify.

"We were able to confirm that it was not an actual City of Houston issued a parking citation, although they dummied our website to make it look like they had paid online at our portal," Maria Irshad, the Deputy Director of Park Houston's Admin and Regulatory Affairs Dept., said.

Park Houston is now working with Houston Police because this is the third time this week the agency has been notified of fake tickets involving Turo rentals.

Houston police confirm the case has been referred to the department's major offenders' division.

Detectives are now reaching out to those involved.

"I'm not going to go broke by paying the $155 ticket," Arnetria said, "but it's the principle of the matter."

Arnetria says she spent more than two weeks going back and forth with Turo officials.

She says they refused to drop the charge, even after receiving confirmation that the ticket was fake.

She even started getting messages from collection agencies.

So, Eyewitness News got involved.

After ABC13 reached out, a Turo spokesperson confirmed that the charge would be dropped, and the ticket was now under investigation.

"My sister makes fun of me. She's like, 'Oh my God, you're like a dog on a ribeye. You're not going to let this go.' And I'm not. I'm not going to let this go. I have obsessed about it because there are so many people that are possibly getting scammed," she said.

We have been unable to reach the car's owner and don't know who made the fake invoice or what will happen next in the investigation.

But we do know Arnetria's advice is worth following.

"Be a dog on a ribeye," she laughed.

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