Officials with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are letting the community know of a recent wave of scam messages where scammers send fake court notices to people’s phones.

The messages include a supposed case number for an unresolved traffic ticket and request payment information for the nonexistent outstanding balance – or else the person being scammed would have to “go to court.”

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In an Instagram post, LASD showed that some messages even threaten additional penalties, including fines, license suspensions or “further legal steps.”

However, it’s all a scam, and deputies are now urging anyone who receives this text or anything similar to not click on it, respond to it or enter any information.

Instead, the texts should be deleted promptly.

“Think you got a court notice? Think again. Scammers are sending fake ‘traffic case’ texts designed to scare you into clicking a link,” LASD said, advising anyone who may have doubts surrounding their status to contact the court directly.

Another local law enforcement agency, the Baldwin Park Police Department, also took to social media on Saturday to spread awareness of the same trend in their community.

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