CLEVELAND — Today, we're not talking about an online scam. We're talking about something that happened in the real world.
A 3News viewer reached out and told us about this suspicious situation in the parking lot behind West 25th Street in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood: "A man with a bright green jacket on was approaching vehicles and telling them that parking was free, then asking for donations he said would go to a veterans group."
THE QUESTION
So let's VERIFY: Do parking attendants in the lot by West Side Market ever approach drivers to tell them about free parking and collection donations?
SOURCES
Our sources are:
- Propark Mobility's regional vice president
- Cleveland police
- West Side Market's spokesperson
EXPLANATION
The parking lot our viewer described is owned by Propark Mobility, whose regional vice president Garrett Valdez told us, "We can confirm that the individual involved is not employed by Propark. We are actively looking into the matter to better understand what happened and to prevent similar occurrences in the future."
So we could better understand what happened, we asked the Cleveland Police about it. Sergeant Wilfredo Diaz told us, "Our Division is aware of a male that matches this described incident; however, we have not confirmed if this is the person you mention. Some persons have notified our Market Beat officer about similar incidents, however they have declined to request a police report. If there are no police reports made, we cannot conduct an investigation."
West Side Market's marketing director Patrick Evans told me there are parking attendants around their building near the parking lot, but they won't be doing what our viewer described. Those attendants are there to help people use the relatively new QR code parking payment system.
"Anyone not wearing a red Propark vest is NOT a parking attendant," Evans said. "No official Propark attendant or Market employee will approach your car to tell you about free parking, or ask for a cash payment or donation."
ANSWER
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Evans also told me the parking lot is free for the first 60 minutes of your visit, during West Side Market hours, and that's automatically factored in when you scan the QR code posted in the lot to pay for your parking. He says if you ended up getting tricked by the scammer and got a notice of a fine in the mail for not paying for your parking, you can call the Cleveland Public Market Corporation on the main line at 216-293-9830, Monday through Friday, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Propark adds that anyone with questions or concerns about parking rates or their experience can contact them directly via email at westsidemarket@propark.com.