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NEWS
Motorists advised to beware of scammers
NSW Office of State Revenue warns motorists the 'speeding fine' in your email is not dinkumHardly a day passes without some new ploy popping up to separate the unsuspecting from their hard-earned cash.
The latest draws on the statistical probability of drivers caught speeding – which is arguably a scam in itself, in the eyes of many – and paying a fine they may not have incurred, in fact.
In a press release issued by the NSW Office of State Revenue (OSR), drivers have been urged to exercise caution in the event they receive fine notices for traffic infringements.
The mock fine notices look like the real deal, but they are being emailed from scammers based in Denmark or Russia. According to the OSR, the notices are part of a sophisticated enterprise, but the easy give-away is the medium for transmission – email. The OSR never sends fines by email; they're always sent through the post, as Commissioner of Fines Administration Tony Newbury was quoted saying in the press release.
"If you receive one of these emails, do not click on any links or pay anything," Newbury said. "OSR or the State Debt Recovery Office never issue fines or penalty notices by email in the first instance, so people should treat any notification of this type as suspicious.
"People can log on to our website, www.sdro.nsw.gov.au, enter the penalty or infringement number and offence date to check the validity of their fine. You can also phone our call centre directly on 1300 655 805 to ensure the fine is genuine.
"For those who have already unfortunately paid the fine, I'd encourage you to contact your bank or financial institution in the first instance, then report the incident to Scamwatch.
"This is a very sophisticated attack and while the scam emails and prompts may look genuine, they are 100 per cent fake and I urge people not to pay these fraudulent fines. I'd also like to use this as a reminder for people to take care to protect their identity online."
In the same press release, the NSW Minister for Fair Trading encouraged the public to be "vigilant" and establish bona fides before paying any fine.
"Scams target everyone regardless of background, age and income," said Matthew Mason-Cox. "I encourage people to be very critical of unexpected requests for money and to be vigilant about ensuring the demand for money is legitimate by checking with the institution that issued the notice."
Money forwarded overseas is extremely difficult to recover, according to NSW Fair Trading, which deals with over 1500 complaints each year, from people who have paid a hoax. Complaints can be lodged with NSW Fair Trading on 13 32 20.
Picture courtesy of Coolcaesar/Wikimedia Commons
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Written byCarsales Staff
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