To ask if anyone else has received a scam text message about an overdue penalty charge?

[KimberleyClark]

I have. It said “You have an overdue Penalty charge notice, today is the last day you can get a 50% discount on your fine…” There was a link which took me to a what looked like gov.uk page, but the web page address was not gov.uk. You had to put your number in to retrieve the details of the penalty charge which I probably unwisely did. Something came up giving the date of the penalty charge as 18 Sept but no location details. We were in Sweden on that date and the car was parked at Heathrow short stay!

Just wondering if anyone else has had similar.

Yes just deleted and blocked.
They are sending them out to people who haven't got cars. Do they think peoplevare stupid?

I had one too. Too obvious, how would the gov know my phone number from a anpr camera?

I got the parking one the other day.Our local council has been compelled to post a warning about it on their Facebook page after getting many concerned calls.
I've never had a car so totally ignored mine but I can understand why it might cause alarm .

Well, clearly some are.

Yes I had one. I deleted it, if I were being chased for payment it would be by letter to my home address, never by text.

Yeh I got that today. My 15 year old son got it a few days ago. I don't even own a car 😂

Yes, I agree with this. I don't do banking on my phone, never will but I worry for people who do and inadvertently click links on their phone because hacking can be very sophisticated and you're giving them an 'in'.

OP, if you bank on your phone, change your passwords, all of them. It's good practice anyway.

Yes, I got it today. Mine said "Penalty Penalty Charge". Pretty obvious from that wording it was a scam. Didn't even bother to read the rest of it.

Yes. I've had one thos evening. I don't currently have a car.

A genuine penalty notice would be issued by post. The message I had said Penalty penalty notice!! Dodgy email address and no car registration number. Don't click on links in messages!!

I got one today by text. I entered an "inventive" reg number and it still took me to a payment page 😅 🙃

Yes my DH got one today. Hilarious really seeing as neither of us drive

Yes, I had this today too. Reported it as spam and blocked the number.

I got it today as well, I also don't have a car!

Yep. I got one last week allegedly from the DGT (I'm in Spain) for a fine that occurred on 12/10/2024.... yeah, has anyone else noticed the blatant fault there?

I've got a fine from the future!

Why would you do this? Recognizing it as a phishing site then still clicking through the website is nuts.

How do they get your number?

Yep I had the same text from 2 different numbers.
Just ignore anything you're not expecting

I got the same one today.
Reported it as spam and blocked it.

I got one as apparently my car got a penalty charge on 27 Aug, a day I spent all of on the train from Aberdeen to London.

Unless my car takes itself off for a drive alone it was parked in my street and had been for 3 weeks.

Deleted and blocked and reported as scam.

Had the exact text yesterday. I clicked on the link and it took me page of the supreme court.
I only opened it because I regularly pay fines and tolls and my number is linked to a lot of vehicles with the DVLA so it's common for me to recieve texts about fines etc.

I wonder what the common demoniator is with why do many people receive this in one go?
Data leak from somewhere?

It's not about blocking and deleting, that's the visible bit that you see. It's behind the link, the phishing for your details, any details. Clicking links is a daft thing to do, especially this one, it really was obvious.

Link clickers can expect to receive many more of these.

Yes I did. It was quite vague "your local council" was one phrase that made me go

Plus, as pp said no date of original offence.

DH and I had the message last week. About an hour apart. Deleted immediately.