Every day, drivers find themselves getting rammed by one fake text after another. One phony alert hitting smartphones in 2026 threatens that you could lose your driver’s license if you don’t deal with those unpaid tickets soon. Another is that age-old text about unpaid tolls.
Cities all across the country — Detroit; Boston; Columbus, Ohio; Providence, Rhode Island, and more — are warning that all those texts about unpaid parking tickets and tolls are not legitimate.
On Monday morning, March 23, some metro Detroit drivers reported receiving a fake text from the “36th Judicial District” in Detroit that claimed they needed to scan a QR code to settle an unpaid balance. The violation listed was: “Parking Violation/Toll Violation.” No dollar amount was stated for what was supposedly owed.
If the drivers didn’t pay now, the fake “notice of default” claimed they had to show up at 9 a.m. Tuesday March 24 for a court hearing. It’s a scam. The so-called “Judge: Michael Rodriguez” isn’t a judge here.
One text was sent from a 737 area code, which serves Austin, Texas, and its surrounding suburbs, not Detroit.
The 36th District Court notes on its real website: “We’ve received reports of a text message scam claiming you owe court fines and must pay immediately to avoid severe penalties. These messages are NOT from the court or any official agency. Do NOT click links or provide payment or personal information. The court will never contact you via text message demanding payment. If you receive a suspicious message like this, please report it to local authorities and do not engage with the sender.”
Police warned in March that residents are receiving fake text messages about so-called parking violations, which often contain a QR code that’s used to make a payment.
Some consumers report getting texts like: “Our records indicate your vehicle was parked in a posted No-Parking Zone (restricted stopping/standing area), which violates applicable traffic regulations. This notice serves as an official demand for payment.”
Scammers know we’re going to be behind the wheel — even as gas prices climb — and they’re bound to hit us up again with more scams that hide behind claims of unpaid tolls and unpaid parking tickets. We are, after all, entering into a big driving season.
Families with high school students could be hitting the road for spring break soon, and many others are likely to travel for Easter, Passover, Mother’s Day and other special occasions ahead.
The fake texts often will direct you to a link to pay up. Or in some cases, consumers are told to scan a QR code. Don’t do it.
Scammers take control of the situation by getting consumers to move quickly — before anyone can really think through something. They get us believing that we must buy gift cards or click on a link or scan a QR code immediately to avoid bigger trouble.
Michigan consumers made hundreds of complaints about fraudulent texts in the past year, according to the Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who issued yet another warning about toll or ticket scams on Friday, March 20.
Common versions of a toll or ticket scam, according to the alert, include fake court notices, impersonations of government agencies, or fraudulent messages from private toll companies.
Recently, the AG’s office noted, scam messages have included an image claiming to be a “Notice of Civil Infraction Hearing.”
The notice, which claims to be from a district court, falsely warns that the consumer must appear in person for a hearing or admit responsibility and pay a penalty before the hearing date. “The scam also includes a QR code that leads to a deceptive website,” according to the AG’s office.
The 36th District Court in Wayne County, Michigan, warned in early February that fake text messages are claiming that people owe money for an “unpaid parking citation.” And the court clarified that it does not send text messages about unpaid parking bills.
Consumers also are receiving fake texts that appear to be from the Michigan Department of Transportation, the Secretary of State, and toll road collection systems such as SunPass and E-ZPass.
One of the latest scams rehashes the old toll road texts. Nessel also warned in early March that a fraudulent text claiming to be from “Judge John Smith” from 36th District Court in Wayne County tells drivers to scan a QR code to because “payment has not been received for a toll violation associated with your vehicle.”
Again, drivers were told that they had to appear in 36th District Court in Detroit or scan that QR code.
One red flag: “Judge John Smith” is, well, what you might expect, a fake name being used in a scam that’s out to steal your money and personal information.
“The current wave of scam texts hitting Michigan phone numbers appears to be much larger in scope than past waves of similar scam messages,” according to Danny Wimmer, a spokesperson for Nessel.
Wimmer told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, on Friday, March 20, that the latest wave of texts do not appear to mention any specific municipality or jurisdiction.
Fortunately, he said, Michigan residents who are alerting the AG’s office knew the texts were a scam and generally did not click on any links or engage with the sender.
Text messages about unpaid tolls, unpaid speeding tickets and unpaid parking tickets mirror other fake text messages about undelivered packages, arrest warrants and job offers.
The reality is that most people drive, order online, have bank accounts and computers. Crooks who send out rapid-fire texts are bound to fool someone into thinking that maybe the next text is about a real issue. Maybe, we think, my computer has a virus.
“If bad guys send out enough of those, either calls or texts, they’re going to hit some people who ‘Oh, yeah, I was expecting a FedEx package today’ or ‘Oh yeah, I was just driving on this toll road that I don’t I go on very often. I don’t have an E-ZPass,’” said Teresa Murray, who directs the Consumer Watchdog office for U.S. PIRG, a nonprofit advocacy group.
Some scams are perpetually popular for a good reason.
Her advice: Do not respond to any text that you receive out of the blue.
“People should be super, super skeptical, paranoid, fearful, whatever you want to say,” Murray told the Detroit Free Press.
“People should be extremely leery of any kind of call or any kind of text that is unexpected,” Murray said.
All sorts of red flags exist, she noted, related to the wording of a text or a domain or a logo. But some warnings are pretty simple, too.
“The easiest warning sign is it’s unexpected,” Murray said, “watch out.”
Murray said con artists have many more tools now to make a text or robocall seem more believable. Some even will research what a typical parking ticket costs in a given city to make a text seem more believable, she said.
Some might sound real — even in the case of a text — because a scammer could know a few details about you, too. Typically, of course, scammers are just sending out a flood of random texts, hoping to catch someone off guard.
Some bad actors even go so far as to create “fake” parking tickets. The fake ticket will ask consumers to pay online or use a QR code.
During the Detroit Auto Show early in 2026, the Michigan AG’s office warned that scammers might imitate logos and city office names on these fake tickets. Best bet: Do an internet search for the city’s official parking ticket websites. Look at what’s found on the site and compare what you see on the ticket. A government sites should end in a .gov or .ca in Canada.
The AG’s office recommends visiting that municipality’s website directly or to calling the court and verifying the existence of the ticket before following the web or QR code directions.
“In many ways, I think scam texts are more dangerous than scam calls,” Murray said.
You can choose to answer a call or not. Many times, your phone will alert you to a potential scam call. Or you always let a call go to voicemail. Scammers might not even leave a voice message.
“With a text, you can’t help but see the preview of the text,” she said. “You’re going to see the first few lines even if you don’t open it.”
The text creates an urgency that your bank account has been hacked. Or that you owe money for a toll or ticket. You feel that you have to act quickly. And if you’re curious, you might — wrongly — click on a link or scan a QR code.
“What I tell people is don’t be so curious,” Murray said.
The old expression is that curiosity killed the cat when it was too nosy. Murray likes to suggest: “Well, curiosity ripped you off.”
Some other red flags of a text that is being sent by scammers, according to Nessel and other experts, include:
- The text is being sent from an unusually long phone number, often 10 or more digits.
- The text might include a link that is likely shortened or scrambled.
- You’re told that you must act now to avoid even bigger headaches.
- The text might contain grammatical and spelling errors, but that’s not always the case.
- You’ll be asked to scan a QR code, click a link or hand over personal or financial information.
Remember, a government agency will never demand money through email, over the phone, or text.
“They will mail you a notice and offer payment options and will not ask for or take payment by prepaid gift card, wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or a payment app,” according to Nessel’s alert.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Scammers are targeting drivers with fake toll and ticket threats
Reporting by Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
