Police warn of scam text notifying fines

Many different scam text messages related to traffic control have recently been sent in the name of the police, said National Police Board in a press release on Friday.

Police also urged the people to not click on the link and not to provide personal information or banking credentials to a phisher.

Scam messages sent in the name of the police allege that the recipient has to pay a speeding fine, for example, and ask them to pay it via a link in the message.

Other messages, on the other hand, only talk more generally about offences committed with a vehicle and provide a link that people can supposedly click on for more detailed information.

Such messages are not sent by the police, but are used to phish for personal data and banking credentials.

The police never notify of traffic penalty fees or fines by text message. Traffic penalty fees imposed in automatic traffic surveillance are sent electronically via the online service to Suomi.fi Messages users and to others by post to the recipient's home address.

A traffic penalty fee imposed in traditional traffic surveillance can also be sent to the party concerned as a Suomi.fi Message or by letter, but only if the driver has first been stopped and identified on the road.

If the recipients are not sure whether they have been given a traffic penalty fee or not, they can check by logging in to the police e-services.