Speeding Ticket Scam

 

Speeding Ticket Scam: How It Works

(with video below) Beware of a new scam going around these days that may hit your email boxes soon. The scam seems to come back every spring, with a new twist. If you get one of these messages, feel free to add the names used by the scammers and your location in the comments section at the bottom of this article, so others can protect themselves. How does the scam work?

Watch the video below to see the Speeding Ticket Scam exposed:

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Speeding Ticket Email Scam Video

The fake traffic fine comes via email. The message references your first and last name, your city, a false date and time, as well as the name of your local Police department. The email, having "Speeding Citation" as the sender, claims it's a notification of "excess speed" on your part.

The trick is, at the bottom of the message, the scammers say that "the infraction statement contains an image of your license plate and the citation that must be paid in 5 working days".

In order to see the picture, you are required to open an attachment, which eventually installs malware on your computer. Alternatively, you are asked for your credit card number to pay the traffic fine.

But how do the scammers know your name and city?

 

 

How do criminals find your full credentials? They buy mailing lists with marks (victims) from third party groups that scrap the internet and collect email addresses that have the names of the owners attached to them.

The reference to your city and your local Police department is done by scammers using geotagging. That means that the IP address of every computer acts as a GPS and replaces the location of every recipient of the email with his/her own city.

The use of your first and last name is done by using mail merging techniques. The mail-merge gives the sender the chance to pick particular words to be replaced upon delivery of the email by the first and last name of every person on the list.

 

How To Avoid The Speeding Ticket Email Scam:

Speeding ticket fines never come via email, at least for now. Rest assured, you can delete the message right away. If in doubt, call the city and inquire about the authenticity of the ticket you received.

 

How To Report The Speeding Ticket Email Scam:

Make your family and friends aware of this scam by sharing it on social media using the buttons provided. You can also officially report the scammers to the Federal Trade Commission using the link below:

Report Scammers To The FTC Here

 

How To Protect Yourself More:

If you want to be the first to find out the most notorious scams every week, feel free to subscribe to the Scam Detector newsletter here. You'll receive periodical emails and we promise not to spam. Last but not least, use the Comments section below to expose other scammers.