Scam texts about traffic tickets threaten license suspension, collections

First it was fabricated fees for highway tolls. Now it’s fake traffic tickets.

For about a year, text messages about concocted unpaid highway tolls have tormented consumers. The messages frequently dangled a $6.99 fee and said if it wasn’t paid promptly, then the person’s vehicle registration or driver’s license would be suspended. Never mind that many of the recipients may not have driven on toll highways or even owned vehicles.

More recently, scam messages are telling consumers they have an outstanding traffic ticket and will face stiff consequences for not paying it within one day.

This Ohio-based writer received two of these texts on June 10 on two different phones. The texts supposedly from the Ohio Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) said, “Our records show that as of today, you still have an outstanding traffic ticket. In accordance with ohio (sic) State Administrative Code 15C-16.003, if you do not complete payment by June 11, 2025, we will take the following actions …”

Those actions include:

• Reporting it to the DMV. (Wait a minute, I thought this message was from the DMV?) (P.S.: it’s not called the DMV in Ohio. It’s the BMV.)
• Suspending the vehicle registration on June 12. (Wow. Nothing in state government happens that quickly.)
• Suspending driving privileges for 30 days. (Ditto.)
• Transferring it to a toll booth and charging a 35% service fee. (The Ohio Turnpike is owned by the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission. It doesn’t process any traffic ticket payments, even for tickets issued on the Turnpike by the State Highway Patrol; those are handled by local courts.) 
• Being prosecuted and having your credit score dinged. (Unpaid anything must go to collections before it could affect your credit score.)

The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles quickly issued a warning on June 10 that the texts are just another scam. Other states that have issued similar warnings in recent days: California, Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and North Carolina. Other states including Georgia, Florida, New Jersey and New York have also issued warnings. The texts are almost surely coming to other states soon if they haven’t already.

Billions of scam phone calls and text messages use the same scare tactics every month: Do this now or else.

We strongly urge people to stop and take a breath any time they’re unexpectedly asked to provide information or pay something. Instead of panicking, call a friend or relative, or your local bank branch, or do an online search to see whether it could be a scam. In this case, if you typed in “ohio” “traffic ticket” and “scam” into a search engine such as Google or Yahoo, the entire first page of results shows warnings from government offices and news outlets. The same would be true if you typed in “highway toll” and “scam.”

Consumers who received messages like these should:

• Not click on any links or reply in any way. If you worry you may have an unpaid charge, contact the source directly through a means you confirm independently. Call FedEx about that unexpected delivery fee, or call your bank about a supposed fraudulent transaction, or log in to your Amazon account about a supposed humongous purchase.
• Take a screenshot and then delete the text message and report it as junk to your cellphone provider. 
• Report the message to the Federal Trade Commission at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/
• Report the message to the FBI at https://www.ic3.gov/
• If you provided any financial information, then contact your bank or credit card company immediately.

For other tips on handling scam calls and texts and keeping yourself safe, see our consumer guides: 

How to stop robocalls and robotexts and avoid scams

What to do if you get too many robocalls and robotexts