Police and officials are warning residents in the Chicagoland area about text messages being sent out this week demanding payment for fake parking and toll violations.
The Cook County Circuit Court said a fraudulent “Illinois Circuit Court – Hearing Notice” is circulating and falsely claims to require payment for “parking violation / toll violation.”
The document is not legitimate and was not issued by any court in Illinois.
The scam notice instructs recipients to scan a QR code to submit payment and threatens court action for failure to respond.
Courts in Illinois do not send hearing notices in the format or demand payment through QR codes.
They also do not threaten arrest or credit reporting in such a manner for unpaid parking matters.
Members of the public are urged not to scan the QR code, not to submit payment through links or QR codes included in unsolicited messages and not to provide personal or financial information in response to the notice.
Anyone who receives the fraudulent notice should report it to local law enforcement and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.
“The Circuit Court takes the integrity of its communications seriously and will continue working to ensure the public has accurate information about legitimate court processes,” the Cook County Circuit Court said.
The Lakewood Police Department said they were contacted on Friday about a suspicious text message received by a local resident.
The message claimed to be from the Circuit Court of Cook County and stated that payment was due for an unpaid parking or toll violation.
“While the notice may appear legitimate and even references real Illinois Vehicle Codes, this is a scam. Residents should delete the message and block the sender if they receive it,” the police department said.
Cook County does not issue toll violations as toll enforcement is handled by the Illinois Tollway Authority.
The Illinois Department of Transportation also issued a statement warning about the same text message scam involving traffic violations and toll violations.
“These are not legitimate messages from the Illinois Department of Transportation. If you receive a message report it to the Federal Trade Commission and/or the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center,” IDOT said.
The messages may be “phishing” where scammers send a deceptive email or text message to trick users into revealing personal or confidential information.
The Round Lake Park Police Department also issued a statement warning the community about the text message scam, saying many people, including their own officers, received the text message for a traffic violation.
“This is a SCAM. The QR code would lead you to a fake website where you can put your credit card information to “pay the fine.” You would never get a hearing notice/traffic violation through a text message,” the police department said.