Palm Beach police arrested Ti'Miyah De'Asia Allen, 19, of West Palm Beach, after she allegedly posed as a parking official and defrauded drivers on Worth Avenue. Investigators say Allen impersonated an employee of ParkMobile and the Palm Beach Parking Authority while targeting unsuspecting visitors and stealing their credit card information.
According to the arrest affidavit, Allen used a common approach to carry out the scheme. She would tell drivers looking to pay for parking that they could pay her approximately $1 instead of the standard $5 per hour plus a 40-cent transaction fee. To make the scam appear legitimate, she carried what looked like a ParkMobile payment device and displayed a fake badge. She would approach vehicles either before drivers had paid for parking or while they were in the process of paying. One victim reported that a fraudulent charge of $2,500 to a company called Health Aid appeared on their credit card after an interaction with Allen on June 5. Police noted that the town was "deprived of parking fee revenue that would have otherwise been legitimately paid."
The investigation revealed that elderly residents were specifically targeted in the scheme. Police say all of the victims were over 65 years old, making them particularly vulnerable to the fraud. This pattern of targeting seniors raised additional concerns for investigators about the nature and scope of the criminal activity.
Allen's arrest history suggests this was not her first fraudulent scheme. Police say she was involved in a similar operation last year while employed at a Wawa location on Belvedere Road, where she allegedly voided customer transactions for profit. Based on the evidence gathered in the current investigation, Allen has been charged with three crimes: falsely impersonating an officer, organized scheme to defraud, and unlawful use of a badge or other indicia of authority. The multiple charges reflect the coordinated nature of the scheme and the deliberate use of fake credentials to carry out the fraud.