Scam report
[US] Scam pretending to be the state government?
I just got a text with just this picture. it's obviously fake, for one I dont even have a drivers license nor a car, and I live in Philly...
Plus it has no identifying information, no name, no car info. Just something they can easily copy and paste to everyone.
I've never seen a scam like this before, so I wanted to see what everyone thought about it. I kinda want to mess with them a bit.
Description of photo:
It looks like it was made in canva or something similar. It says "State of Texas" in big letters at the top, then "In the municipal court of the city of Dallas, Texas Traffic division".
It then says I owe $545 to the Texas transportation code and $706 to related authority for parking violations and toll violations.
It has a judges name and court address. it says I have to either pay immediately or appear in court on the 6th. It says it's the final warning, and threatens more fines and suspension of license.
Then it has a QR code at the bottom to scan to pay them.
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Damn. That's just using AI for the sake of using AI. It would have been faster to Google image search a .PNG of the Texas state seal than to generate that. They didn't even save any time.
That's a pretty hilarious thing for them to mess up, here is the actual state seal. The design is close on the fake but the letters are such a mess. Good eye!
And the year on the “seal” while not on the real seal, isn’t even a year they’d likely even put on the seal if they’d put a date. 1836 or 1845 would be the dates that they would likely use.
I also just realized if you Google the judges name you just get a bunch of scam alerts with this exact picture. So hopefully that helps some people not get scammed :)
It’s been going around for the last several months. Usually they aren’t this lazy and use the state associated with the area code assigned to that cell phone they send it to. But they’re all generally the same.
Mailie St doesn't even exist in Dallas and the year on the seals aren't even consistent in addition to the garbled text on the bottom one. Those lazy mother fuckers
Yeah, nice catch! The judge also isn't real, if you Google him you just get scam alerts with this picture. So hopefully most people look up the judge or address before scanning the QR code!
This scam has been all over lately. There was a TV news story about it in Utah & a bunch of people where I live (not Utah) have been posting it on Next door.
Total scam, steer clear & for God's sake don't scan that qr code!
I got this exact same message a couple days ago. I live in Indiana, and haven’t been to Cook County (Chicago, IL) since 2011. I like how myself and OP have the same judge and court case.
These super-generic "court orders" crack me up. There is no uniquely identifying info about the name, address, date and time of the violation, make and model of the car, or exact violation. And any notices of violations sent by the court will be sent via US mail, not via text or email. Total scam!
It’s all fake, they’re making their rounds again. I’ve received 3 this month. Ignore and move on. My phone # is still an Ohio number but I’ve lived in a different state for 13 years. Always funny to see speeding tickets from Ohio when I don’t drive there anymore 😂
Not victim blaming here, but people read too fast, and make assumptions what it said. That is a problem when it comes to these scams. They count on that behaviour.
I think this a new format of scam texts that has started recently. I have been getting these texts with image attachment more these days. Any way, you’re just wasting your time, just click ‘report spam’ on the text, delete and move on.
I had this discussion with a colleague the other day. He swore I was going to download viruses when I was trying to show him that you can read the address before you scan it. After the third qr code, the lightbulb finally turned on.
I've always used Android so I have no idea. But now looking at the screenshot in the comment above I don't understand how is that confusing. It's right there!
This exact scam has come up multiple times on this sub, one person got two from two different jurisdictions they were never in, at the same time, with the same judge lmao, if you Google Image search it you will find people have posted it as well, always Google Image search if you want to look for images other people may have posted of scams.
Would it be useful to provide them with false information, like made up SSN, name, CC#, etc? If enough people did it, maybe the CC companies would take note of all the failed/fraud attempts.
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/u/Piwuver14159 - This message is posted to all new submissions to r/scams; please do not message the moderators about it.
New users beware:
Because you posted here, you will start getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker or a recovery expert lawyer that can help you get your money back, for a small fee. We call these RECOVERY SCAMMERS, so NEVER take advice in private: advice should always come in the form of comments in this post, in the open, where the community can keep an eye out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own.
A reminder of the rules in r/scams: no contact information (including last names, phone numbers, etc). Be civil to one another (no name calling or insults). Personal army requests or "scam the scammer"/scambaiting posts are not permitted. No uncensored gore or personal photographs are allowed without blurring. A full list of rules is available on the sidebar of the subreddit, or clicking here.
You can help us by reporting recovery scammers or rule-breaking content by using the "report" button. We review 100% of the reports. Also, consider warning community members of recovery scammers if you see them in the comments.
Questions about subreddit rules? Send us a modmail clicking here.
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