Scam Squad: Ohio Drivers see huge spike in traffic ticket scam texts

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - In a recent three-day window, a private online security company detected a 100-fold increase in traffic ticket text scams sent to Ohio drivers.

Millions of these messages went out to Ohio drivers in a ‘spray and pray’ scam attempt.

Scammers are hoping drivers would fall for it, thinking they’d gotten a ticket and needed to pay it to clear their record.

“Always take a step back. Think about ‘Were you even driving in an area where there was a cop around?’ You would know if you got a ticket, right?” said Katie Hills with the Cleveland Better Business Bureau.

She says their Scam Tracker has picked up an influx of these kinds of scams since the summer.

But she reminds drivers that the Ohio BMV would never text you with a link to pay for an outstanding ticket.

“They will first and foremost send you something via the mail. But also, it’s not going to be a threat. They’re not going to say, ‘Hey, if you don’t pay this bill within 3 days, your license is going to become expired.’ Or that you will have your license revoked,” she said.

“There are groups like that all around the world. Each time they’re trying different location, different target, different victims, trying to optimize the revenue in this case,” said Nati Tal, head of security of Guardio, a subscription service that monitors and blocks scam attempts.

Much like text scams about packages lost or unpaid tolls, Tal says these are more common, relatable transactions than a larger dollar cryptocurrency transaction.

But they can still work to steal your money and your credit card information.

That info can then be passed on and sold, to target you again.

Because these traffic ticket texts are hyper-localized, at such a large scale, this appears to be the fallout of some sort of data breach.

“People are using those data leaks with phone numbers and names, even car details in this case, and using that to create the scam more trustworthy for the victims,” said Tal.

These newer text messages that are coming in are even more dangerous than previous ones you may have received, thanks to AI getting more sophisticated, and cleaning up some of the typos and spelling errors that use to tip you off to a scam at play

“AI knows best how to write the message correctly, to influence more on the readers,” Tal said.

According to Tal, AI is making bad scammers better and creating a breeding ground for a whole new generation of scammers.

For that reason, Hills says it’s critical that people report to the BBB’s Scam Tracker if they received one of these traffic ticket texts.

“It’s vital, honestly. We want everybody to contribute to it because it really helps alert the public,” she said.

On the BBB’s Scam Tracker, you can not only report a scam, but also search your city or area to monitor specific scams targeting your neighborhood.

Our partners with the Cuyahoga County Scam Squad will hang on to any reports that need to go to the FTC and pass them on once the federal government shutdown is resolved.