A Haslemere resident has been left “feeling very silly” after being scammed by a fake parking app. 

Bridget Middlemas parked behind Boots in Haslemere High Street but when she went online to pay for her parking, she found herself directed to a virtually identical website to the legitimate Horizon parking website. 

In her hurry, Bridget entered her details, not realising she had been re-directed to an American site called Activate Security. Before she knew it she had been charged $14 dollars. 

Bridget then received an email telling her she had signed up to a monthly subscription to Activate Security. Bridget called her bank immediately to cancel the pending transaction and get her card replaced. But the scammers now have her email and home address.

Bridget took to social media to warn other drivers of the fake app and was surprised by how many others had been caught. 

She said: “This issue is clearly affecting many people. While it was my error entirely, these scams are very clever and I want more people to be aware of them.”