Ames, Iowa — The Iowa Department of Transportation is issuing a simple warning about deceptive text messages about unpaid traffic tickets and tolls — it’s a scam.
Ryan Ridout of the Iowa DOT’s Bureau of Investigation and Integrity says you will never get a legitimate text message demanding payment for a traffic fine.
The bogus text messages say people have to pay up by this Friday, followed by threats if they don’t — like having their driver’s license suspended for a month. It also begins with a reference to the “Iowa Department of Vehicles (DMV)” — a state agency that doesn’t exist. Ridout says there was a similar scam earlier this year, with a link that led people to a website that may have looked like the Iowa DOT’s – but it wasn’t.
People across the country are getting these deceptive texts this week. The scammers have tried to rewrite the texts for each state, but many sent to Iowans refer to the “North Iowa State Administrative Code.” That’s another red flag because there may be a North Dakota, but there is no State of North Iowa. And that reference to unpaid tolls? Very few Iowa drivers rack up tolls because there are no toll roads in Iowa and only two bridges — both in Lee County — charge tolls.
