ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — WFTV learned Orlando police are investigating after two men spearheaded a parking lot scam that left hundreds of Vans Warped Tour concertgoers without their cars and having to fork over $100 to a towing company.
The parking lot is located near State Road 50 and John Young Parkway, which is only a couple blocks from where the concert was held at the Central Florida Fairgrounds.
Witnesses said the parking lot was filled with more than 100 cars on Friday morning as concertgoers headed to the fairgrounds.
But a few hours later WFTV caught at least seven tow trucks, from what appeared to be different companies, spread into the parking lot, barely hitching the cars before rushing them out of the lot.
"It was literally like sharks feeding. I mean, like never seen anything like it in my life. I thought they were actually going to get into it over who was going to tow which vehicle," said witness John Rice.
After WFTV arrived at the parking lot and started filming, the tow trucks left and did not return.
"Some of them (the cars) weren't even on all the way and they were just taking off," said Rice.
Most of the 150 cars on the lot were towed. Police said they are looking into the incident.
"Obviously they're making a quick buck, but it's like you didn't let anyone know in doing it and that's just like not right," said car owner Greg Hughes.
"A half hour, no cars. Empty. They were coming in like that, fighting like tow truck wars," said witness Bill Passio.
Passio works next door to the lot and said he saw the two men flagging concertgoers into the lot to park for $10 each.
"They were waving them in, they were waving them in, 'come in, come in, come in' and they had pamphlets too to put in the car, pamphlets to go in the car like it was legit," said Passio.
The two men claimed to work at a nearby Kia dealership that rents the lot to use for their cars.
A spokesperson for Kia said they don't work there and that the men must have stolen parking passes.
Witnesses said they flagged about 150 cars into the lot.
"I figured it was a legit place to park," said Brandon Sheridan, whose car was towed from the lot.
"It looked like it would be kind of OK because everyone was, it was so many people, and everyone was parking here," said Kaitlyn Couvillion, whose vehicle was also towed.
WFTV went to the tow company that is listed on the tow away zone sign and found an angry mob of people and Orlando police.
WFTV talked to a man who said he paid $100 cash to get his daughter's car and $100 more for a teen he didn't even know.
"I just felt bad," he said.
Witnesses said a car was damaged when a tow truck driver smashed into it. They said that car was eventually towed by another tow truck.
Two signs are located within the parking lot, warning drivers that they are at risk of being towed.
WFTV spoke to the parking lot security guard and he said he did not notify any of the towing companies.
WFTV's Drew Petrimoulx contacted TRL Towing, which is one of the companies WFTV saw towing cars, and asked them who told them to tow. They said, "No comment" and then hung up the phone.
So far, police won't say anything except that a lieutenant has been assigned to the incident.
One officer did say many of the drivers reported their cars stolen, which is what alerted them that something was up.
The Kia spokesman said he didn't plan to file a report on the stolen passes.