People in Alberta and Saskatchewan are receiving texts about unpaid tickets
Police in the Prairies are warning residents about scams alleging residents have unpaid tickets.
Saskatchewan RCMP received multiple reports on June 29 of people receiving text messages indicating they’re due in court for an “unpaid traffic citation,” and that a failure to appear can result in an arrest, vehicle impoundment, or other punishment.
The texts came from a number with a “+21” area code.
That area code is associated with countries in Africa like Morocco, Algeria, or Tunisia.
The text asks victims to take immediate action by clicking on a link that looks like the actual website of the Saskatchewan Provincial Court.
This warning comes after police in Alberta issued a similar alert.
Fort Saskatchewan RCMP received multiple reports of a text message scam from “Alberta Registry Services.”
This scam followed a similar pattern of telling recipients they have unpaid parking tickets and are due in court or face fines or other penalties.
Government agencies won’t ask for payment or personal details through text messages, police say.
Anyone who may have received one of the text messages is encouraged to report the incident to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
As of March 31, the CAFC has processed 7,985 reports, and Canadians have lost about $188 million to fraud.
As agribusinesses shift to digital platforms, mobile devices also support farmers with their data management and other tasks.
In June, Farm Credit Canada posted six ways farmers can protect their data.
And in 2023, Farms.com interviewed an IT manager about protecting against cybersecurity risks.