The Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office has received reports of a targeted email scam involving fake notices of traffic violations.
They say the scammers appear to grab publicly facing email addresses off business websites and then email the “violator” a notice of a traffic violation that is alleged to have occurred near the area of the business.
Speed detection or traffic signal cameras are not used anywhere in Vanderburgh County or the City of Evansville, according to the sheriff’s office. Violation notices of any type are never emailed.
Note in the example shown below the fake notice fails to include such basic information as the date and time of the violation, a vehicle description, a license plate number or a photo of the violator vehicle taken by the traffic camera.
Complaints regarding email scams and “phishing” attempts can be reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center here. Known as “IC3”, the center serves as a central hub to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints regarding occurrences of cyber-crime.