The latest smish to arrive in people’s texts is the Unpaid Traffic Ticket scam. It may look familiar to you, because it’s brought to you by the same criminals who are behind those ubiquitous unpaid-toll and unpaid-parking schemes. If you get a text message like what’s pictured here, don’t believe it. Don’t answer it, don’t click any of its links, don’t do anything of what it says!
If your cellphone allows you to, you can help by either reporting the text as spam, or forwarding the text to 7726 (SPAM). Our government also welcomes you to report any scam attempts at their fraud-fighting website.
These smishing attacks are so common for two reasons. One is that phone lists are really easy to come by, thanks to profiteering data brokers and everyday data breaches. Another is that the bad guys have a simple software “kit” that they can buy on the black market. This software package makes it easy for even base amateurs to try their hand at a widespread scam.
This means that this won’t be the last type of smish like this. Be wary of anything that arrives via text. Legitimate notices and bills will come to you through more official channels.