BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and local law enforcement are warning residents about a text message scam impersonating the transportation cabinet.
Scammers are sending fraudulent text messages to residents across the state and in Warren County, according to local law enforcement.
According to KYTC, the message features a suspicious link similar to Kentucky government website addresses. The scam messages warn customers of unpaid traffic tickets or “traffic infractions” and say that a “payment is due” and that “actions will be taken” if not resolved.
Warren County Sheriff, Brett Hightower, said these text message scams can come in several different forms.
“We see these almost every single day with some variation on whether you’ve missed a court date, a federal grand jury, your vehicle was picked up on a camera somewhere,” Hightower said. “So they scare you that in the fact if you don’t pay this, there’s going to be some fine levied against you could be potentially incarcerated.”
Hightower said, his office receives frequent reports about the scam.
“We get a lot of phone calls on these. I have people stop me all the time, show these to me on their phone, say, ‘I just received this an hour ago. Is this real?’” he said. “It’s absolutely not. These are not valid. Do not respond to them. Do not send your money to anywhere like this.”
According to Hightower, the messages are being sent from overseas claiming to be local numbers.
Law enforcement is warning the community to not click on the link and to delete the message.
“We just ask people, if you see something like that, unless the people sending it, unless it’s something that or expecting, do not click on links, do not open apps, do not do anything like that at all that could jeopardize the safety of your phone or your computer system,” Hightower said.
You can also visit stopscams.ky.gov to stay up-to-date on ways to report and spot scams. Officials say, they are taking the appropriate steps to request to have the fraudulent websites taken down.
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