red light camera scam

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Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Sep 2011 Posts: 39

Scare tactics
The scam is simple. A no-good type picks your phone number at random and, once you answer, tells you that you have an overdue red light camera fine. The only way to avoid a significant late fee, a court case, or even jail time is to pay the bill right then and there over the phone. If you don't pay up, you're threatened with a warrant for your arrest.

Of course, there was no camera, no photograph, and no overdue bill. The scammer really has no ability to arrest you, fine you, or take you to court.
The voice at the end of the phone line identifies itself as that of a police officer, possibly even giving you a (phony) identification number. As well as trusting you to be lazy and not do your fact checking, the scammer is working on the element of surprise. It's scary to be told you may be facing a jail sentence over something you have no recollection of doing, and you'll be more inclined to overlook a few simple signs that should tell you that the phone call is anything but legitimate.

After convincing you to pay the fraudulent fine, the "traffic cop" will ask for your credit card information, including the security code. That's required information for paying any bill from a remote location. Alarm bells should start ringing as the questions continue, though, as the caller asks for your billing address, date of birth and Social Security number. Surely, the police would have some — if not all — of this information on file. They have your license plate in the photo from the red light camera, after all.

That's not our style
No American police agency currently conducts business like this; in fact, no agencies anywhere conduct business like this. The police do not use the telephone to chase down or collect overdue fines or tickets. They use the postal service or, in more dire cases, a process server or law enforcement officer.

Even if things did get to the third-party debt collector stage, all correspondence would be carried out in writing, creating an official paper trail that can be traced back and audited if necessary.

The police (and most other authorities) will not ask you for personal information over the phone unless you initiated the call. Dialing the cable company to pay your bill by credit card is one thing — you dialed the numbers, and you can be relatively certain you are connected to the right party. But even with Caller ID, there is no real way to verify incoming calls; if questioned, scammers can come up with a quick excuse. Perhaps they are "calling from a different office" or "a new number that hasn't been set up yet."

Other variations
While this red light camera scam is relatively new (originating in Texas, by the way), it's very similar to another popular identity theft attempt. In that instance, you'll receive a call informing you that you have missed jury duty and — you guessed it — must pay a fine or be slapped with a late fee, along with possible jail time or a court case of your own.

Just like the traffic camera scam, there is no missed jury duty, and the "court official" on the other end of the phone is after your money and your personal information.

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 6:33 am

as I'm aware, they are impersonating enforcement agency to ask for deposit, payment via money transfer and even acc/credit card detail. never give them even if the "enforcement agency ask you to do so via telephone because real enforcement agency never ask deposit, acc detail and credit card detail