Overview
- Fraudulent texts mimic the Philadelphia Municipal Court’s Traffic Division with a “Notice of Hearing – TOLL VIOLATION” and a QR code for payment.
- The judiciary stresses it will never text demands for payment or request Social Security or credit‑card information by phone or text.
- Recipients are instructed to ignore the messages and report them to local police, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, or the FTC.
- Officials describe the scheme as smishing, a text‑based phishing method tied to $470 million in reported U.S. losses in 2024, according to FTC data.
- Regional targets have previously included alleged unpaid tolls and agencies such as the Philadelphia police, the New Jersey Turnpike, election offices, and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.