Providence police are warning Rhode Islanders about a suspicious text message, sent en masse, that urges recipients to settle unpaid parking tickets by scanning a QR code.
“This is a scam,” according to a Providence police post on X, formerly Twitter.
The city never tries to collect on unpaid parking tickets by sending texts, Mayor Brett Smiley said on Monday, March 16.
“If you received a text message yesterday or in the days to come, those are not real,” Smiley said. “Those are not real. Please do not respond. The Providence Police and or the Providence Municipal Court would never text you a demand to pay.”
“You should never pay a parking ticket via text; that is not something that we do,” Smiley said, urging residents to delete such texts and not to reply.
“It’s just a sad commentary on where are right now that these kinds of scams like this, or on other topics, abound,” Smiley said.

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