Warning issued about fake traffic tickets

St. Johns County Tax Collector Dennis W. Hollingsworth, CFC, and the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles are warning Historic City News readers that they may be targeted by a company representing itself as the state agency and demanding payment for fraudulent citations.

The company, which is not associated with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles in any way, will send emails to consumers requesting payment of a citation within a certain timeframe and if the payment is not received on time, the company will falsely require a daily late fee payment.

This is an example of the e-mail received by one consumer:

The fraudulent email includes a linked payment page and email address. While the linked payment page used in this example appears to be inactive now, consumers are still being warned that this is a scam and no payment should be made.

• If a consumer has made a payment, they should refute the charge and take the appropriate security measures with their financial institution.
• The Tax Collector, Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles nor Clerk of Court email citations to customers
• The Tax Collector, Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles nor Clerk of Court seek citation payment via email
• Citation numbers are always seven alpha-numeric digits

If a consumer receives a notice regarding a suspicious citation, they should contact the Clerk of Court or Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles immediately.

Neither the office of St. Johns County Tax Collector Dennis W. Hollingsworth, CFC, nor the office of the St. Johns County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller Hunter S. Conrad, Esq., have received local complaints, yet.  However, both Hollingsworth and Conrad ask consumers to remain vigilant and report immediately any email suspected of promoting this scam.