Council warns motorists of parking fine scam

DERRY City and Strabane District Council is urging motorists to be vigilant to a new parking scam.

The local authority says it has been alerted to fraudulent text messages being sent claiming that the recipient has an ‘unpaid parking fine’.

A number of people locally have reported receiving the messages demanding immediate payment for a Parking Charge Notice (PCN), urging them to click on an accompanying link.

A spokesperson for council said: "Council would like to make the public aware of fake text messages claiming to be from the Department telling motorists to pay a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) via a weblink.

"These messages are a scam. Official PCNs are never issued by text message.

"Please delete them and report them to: http://www.reportfraud.police.uk/

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"Scammers design these texts to look like they’re from a government department, so they can seem convincing.

"Please make sure any vulnerable family or friends know about this too."

For more information, visit: 

https://www.derrystrabane.com/services/

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