The Tennessee Department of Safety and Tennessee Highway Patrol are alerting residents to a new phishing scam involving fraudulent text messages. These messages falsely claim that the recipient has an unpaid traffic ticket and warn that their driving privileges are at risk if they do not take action. Authorities emphasize that the messages are completely fake and part of a scam.

Anyone who receives or falls victim to one of these texts is encouraged to report the incident to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at https://www.ic3.gov/. For additional guidance on recognizing and avoiding common scams, Tennesseans can visit the Tennessee Attorney General’s Division of Consumer Affairs website at https://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/working-for-tennessee/consumer-affairs.html.