DES MOINES, Iowa — Several residents of East Porter Avenue were left concerned after a letter claiming to be from the City of Des Moines restricted parking in the area.

Residents of East Porter Avenue say the letters started popping up during the first few days of December.

“I got this letter in the mail that mentioned about, like parking on the sides of the street that you get like $1,000 fine,” said Abbie Donehoo, a resident on the block. “And I looked at it and I figure you know it had the City of Des Moines stamp on it, but it’s one of those things that kind of sounds, it was weird.”

The letter states that residents of East Porter Avenue could no longer park on the street due to snow clearing concerns. Claiming satellite, drone, and on-site surveillance would be placed to help ensure compliance, violators would be charged $500 for first offense and up to $1,000 for continued violations.

“With the City of Des Moines stamp on there, and I know now days you can fake anything, but seeing that on there really made it look real,” said Donehoo.

Abbie then realized that there was nothing about the parking restrictions posted anywhere and the letter didn’t have the correct contact information.

“So, I just threw it away. I just figured if it was something really important, they normally put, put that on the news and then email it out too.”

Several residents admit to thinking the letter was real and having made preparations for what to do with their vehicles, however a majority of the neighborhood knew the letters were fake.

“It was a ridiculous letter with outrageous fines and talking about drones,” said Anthony Wallace, a resident who instantly knew it was fake. “Then the generic envelope, it came in.”

Residents of the area then took to social media, asking neighbors what they knew about the letter and whether the city was even allowed to impose such rules.

“Seeing on Facebook that someone posted that letter, Easter Lake has like their own little web page or something like that on Facebook, and someone posted so I got a kick reading the comments out of that,” said Wallace.

Earlier today the City of Des Moines released a statement addressing the fake letters, reading in part:

The City of Des Moines would like to warn residents that if information appearing to be from the City seems to be suspicious, you should look up the appropriate department’s phone number at DSM.city and call the City directly to verify information instead of responding to the communication or calling the number in the communication. Any mail correspondence from the City of Des Moines will also come through certified mail with a return address and official City email addresses will end in @dmgov.org. 

Peter Zemansky, Communications Specialist ll City Manager’s Office

The city also reminds people that there are no seasonal parking bans in Des Moines, but there are parking restrictions during snow removal operations.