QR-Code Traffic Violation Scams Use Fake Court Notices to Steal Data
Summary
Fake court-violation texts send recipients through a QR code and CAPTCHA to phishing pages demanding $6.99 and harvesting personal and payment details. The campaign has been reported in multiple states.
Key points
- Texts impersonate state courts and use fake traffic-violation notices to urge recipients to scan a QR code.
- The QR code leads to an intermediary site with a CAPTCHA, then to a phishing page impersonating a DMV or other agency.
- The phishing pages demand $6.99 and collect names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and credit-card information.
- BleepingComputer reports similar messages targeting residents in New York, California, North Carolina, Illinois, Virginia, Texas, Connecticut, and New Jersey.
- State agencies say they do not request payment or personal information by text; the article advises ignoring payment requests from unknown numbers or email addresses.
Article Details
- Event Type
- Phishing campaign using text messages that impersonate state courts and direct recipients to QR-code-linked phishing sites.
- Impact
- The phishing pages demand a $6.99 payment and collect personal and credit card information, which could be used for financial fraud, identity theft, follow-on phishing, or sale to other threat actors.
Indicators of compromise
| Type | Indicator | Context |
|---|---|---|
| HOSTNAME | ny[.]gov-skd[.]org | Hostname used by a phishing site impersonating the New York DMV. |
| HOSTNAME | ny[.]ofkhv[.]life | Hostname used by a phishing site impersonating the New York DMV. |