Virginia State Police are telling people to avoid clicking on any emails that appear to be a traffic ticket -- the email may be part of a scam trying to deceive drivers.
Virginia State Police do not issue automatic tickets, nor do they use email to inform people about real tickets or court dates.
Scammers are targeting drivers by sending fake tickets that appear to be from Virginia State Police. The tickets have fake ticket numbers and contain links that may put your security at risk. Some even list fake court dates, police said.
If you have been targeted by this scam, police advise immediately deleting the email. Do not click on any links in the email or download any attachments.
"Never open or click on a link in an email from an unknown email address, individual or organization. To check the validity of an email, locate the entity’s website and call to determine if it is a legitimate email. The same goes for an individual," police said in a statement.
The police say this advice applies to a number of scams.
Schemes where scammers pretend to be official government agencies, utilities or legitimate companies are common.
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Federal investigators called one scam, where callers pretend to be representatives from the IRS and demand immediate payment, lost taxpayers more than $44 million.
