Student Issues Fake Parking Tickets, Collects 'Fines'

A college student in Madison, Wis., is accused of placing fake parking tickets on cars parked near his fraternity and taking the money for them.

Prosecutors say Anthony R. Gallagher, 23, is believed to have received hundreds of dollars from people thinking they were paying $40 parking fines to the local police department.

Gallagher admitted to having run the scam after a victim tried to mail a payment and it was returned as undeliverable. It seems each fake ticket Gallagher gave out was a reproduction of a real parking ticket he had received. He even used the same citation number, which was traced back to him.

Prosecutors say Gallagher set up a post office box to receive the payments and deposited the money in a separate bank account.