A British Columbian has fallen victim to a speeding ticket scam and is now out thousands of dollars.
North Vancouver RCMP says a person came forward to them and is their first reported victim of the scam.
A spokesperson for the detachment says the individual lost $5,000.
“Getting a ticket is bad, but providing your banking info to scammers is much worse,” says the spokesperson. “Police will never send you a text asking for payment to settle a fine."
The scam first comes in the form of a text message, stating "Your vehicle was detected by our speed monitoring camera exceeding the speed limit.” It continues to say that the driver was travelling "41 km/h in a school zone" and to "please visit" the provided link before a certain date.
After clicking the link, a website is launched with the exact same logo, font, colour scheme and pay system that PayBC uses. The website then asks for private information such as name, birth date and address.
The fake website reads: “To settle your infraction without a court date, please visit our online site.” It claims the total amount due is 20.38$, with the dollar sign inaccurately placed at the end.
Speeding in a school zone has a minimum fine starting at $196 in B.C., not $20.38.
Staff at the Ministry of Finance’s Corporate Accounting Services issued an alert about the website, warning people to only ever make payments on www.pay.gov.bc.ca.
"An identical fake website has been created by malicious actors to potentially steal personal and/or credit card information," says a spokesperson. "We have recently become aware of phishing attempts against PayBC users."
People should never share information without verifying the legitimacy of the website.
"Please be vigilant against phishing attempts,” states the ministry. "Do not click on unfamiliar links received via text or email that ask for your personal or credit card information."
North Vancouver RCMP asks the public to explain the scam to people close to them so no one else falls victim to the fraud.
