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Drivers Suspect Scam After Cars Towed From Uptown Parking Lot During Concert At Aragon Ballroom

CHICAGO (CBS) -- We saw it happen time and time again; car after car being towed from a parking lot near the Aragon Ballroom, even though the drivers had paid for parking.

CBS 2's Meredith Barack is investigating what happened.

A sign outside the lot near Lawrence Avenue and Broadway says "event parking," so many of the people who parked there during the Twenty One Pilots concert Thursday night likely assumed their cars would be safe, but that wasn't the case.

"We paid $40, and we were scammed to park here," Claire Hagan said after her Jeep was towed from the lot.

The same thing happened to another concert-goer's Jetta, and Nicole Johnson's brand-new Ford.

"I'm praying that it is in good condition right now," Johnson said.

Their cars, and dozens of others, were towed from the parking lot in Uptown, after being motioned in by men in the street.

"They were in random yellow vests, and then bluish shirts that kind of looked like security shirts from across the street, and they were coming and stopping people in the middle of the road, and they're like, 'Oh, come park here, it's $40," Johnson said.

She and the others were there to see a Twenty One Pilots Concert at the Aragon Ballroom.

A viewer captured video showing how quickly the tow trucks were taking off with the cars while concertgoers were inside, enjoying one of their favorite bands.

It led these women to believe they were scammed.

"They were just rushing people in, and kind of looking around. We probably should have known they were a little shady, and then they just let us in, and they made us go all the way to the end and turn around and back up," Johnson said.

On Friday, a large crowd gathered outside of Protective Parking Service, also known as Lincoln Towing, to get their cars back. Several concertgoers did get their cars back Thursday night, but it cost them upwards of $200.

And when CBS 2 showed up on Friday to get answers as to what happened, representatives for the company declined to comment.

CBS 2 also reached out to CEDARst Companies, who owns this parking lot. They said they are disappointed someone took advantage of unknowing concert goers, and they will be improving security measures going forward.

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