“Concerned and worried” motorists have received scam texts over parking violations – prompting a council warning.
Hertsmere Borough Council has confirmed that the link in a text message that has gone out to many residents stating that they will be prosecuted by ‘a local council’ if they do not pay a penalty charge notice(PCN) takes them to a fake website.
It provides no details of the alleged contravention but has a live payment page “ready to take people’s money”, sparking many complaints to the borough council’s parking services team.
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Councillor Chris Myers said: “This message has been brought to our attention by a number of concerned and worried residents, and we are keen to raise wider awareness of it.
“People should always be vigilant when receiving unexpected messages, and not be tempted to respond straight away – regardless of how official the message seems to be or how threatening it is.
“We would also advise people to check with our parking services team if they are concerned they may have received a parking ticket, who will be able to offer advice.
“Do not click the link.
“We would never send a text message or call the registered keeper with a parking fine, genuine parking tickets are sent to the owner by letter and will always provide details of the car, contravention, as well as the time and date the offense occurred.
“We also offer people the opportunity to contest the ticket.”
Trading standards officials advise people to forward the message on to 7726, OFCOM’s scam call and text message reporting facility, and then delete it.
The full scam message says: “Parking Penalty Charge Notice: Please Pay a parking penalty charge notice (PCN) issued by a local council. If you do not pay a PCN within 28 days, you’ll get a ‘charge certificate’ and you’ll have 14 days to pay the original fine plus 50 per cent more.
“If you do not pay you’ll be prosecuted – you may have to pay a bigger fine as well as court costs. Please pay your fine at the link after reading the information. [Link]. Thank you again for your cooperation.”
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