I’d just been riding in Victoria so wasn’t surprised when an email popped up entitled, “Traffic infringement notice — photographic evidence” but even before I could get my back up about the state government’s traffic-based money-making scams I knew the email was a hoax.
For starters, it purported to come from the Australian Federal Police and there’s no way they’d be sending me a ticket. Second, I’d expect any infringement notice to come by snail mail, not email.
I looked at the email itself, which contained the image you see below. The links were active, of course, and there was no way I was going to click them; I could see they didn’t go to an AFP website or anything similar. In fact, when our governments begin subcontracting to a company whose domain is usedbestlaptop I’ll know things are crook.
A mere glance at the email’s design, spelling, dates etc left me in no doubt it was a scam.
There’s no time or place of offence.
The offence wasn’t right, either. I’m sure the government’s revenue collectors would love a camera that can photograph negligent driving but I don’t think they’ve managed to get that technology happening yet…
Apparently people do fall for these scams, though. The whole thing might seem obvious to me, but I can see how someone might fall for it and click one of the links to follow it through.
Always be suspicious. If there’s one tiny thing that doesn’t ring true about such a notice, just delete it. Even if you’re convinced it’s fair dinkum, ring the authorities to verify it — and don’t use contact info provided in the email, look it up separately.
You can learn more about scams, as well as report them, on the Australian government’s Scamwatch website.
