SEATTLE -- It's happening at parking lots throughout Seattle in the downtown core, on the waterfront and at the Seattle Center.

The pitch varies from lot to lot and from crook to crook, but the the goal is always the same: convince you to give them your money rather than use the pay box on the lot.

In the past, the bad guys went after the money in the cash box. But the new pay stations are much more secure and take credit cards, so parking lot bandits are now targeting customers.

John Meek is director of operations for Republic Parking, and his lots get hit all the time.

"These guys are very slick," he said.

"What they'll do is approach you and tell you they have an all-day receipt and they'll sell it to you at a discount. Or they'll tell you the electronic pay box is broken and that you need to pay them."

In some cases, the receipt they give you doesn't even match up to the lot. That's because they'll buy them in bulk at another lot that allows multiple credit card purchases.

The crimes are so prevalent that police even have a name for this type of fake parking lot attendant: "pretendant"

Seattle police say many of the tickets used in the scam are purchased with stolen credit cards.

"They've stolen the credit card, they've paid nothing for the $20 ticket and they're getting $15 cash," said police spokesman Jeff Kappel.

And the victim who buys the invalid ticket gets burned twice, because not only are they out whatever they gave to the thief, but when the lot attendant comes around and sees the car parked without a valid parking sticker they get hit with a ticket for parking without paying.

It may seem unfair, but the company that runs the lot also gets cheated in the scam.

"They still owe us for the parking," Meeks said. "We definitely work with the people as much as we can and charge them for the amount of parking they did use that day."

In an attempt to curb the scams, lot owners are posting signs alerting customers that there is no attendant on duty.

At one Republic Parking lot, a sign reads "Do not give money to anybody under any circumstances."

Keep in mind that anyone working for one of the big parking lot companies will be wearing a shirt with the company logo and will have an ID badge.

If someone tells you the lot's parking meter is broken, go check for yourself.

If it's really not working, there are often alternative payment methods. For instance, you can pay by cell phone at Republic, Diamond, and Key Park lots.

If you encounter a scammer at a lot, call 911.