If you receive a text message from the City of Pickering, Ontario, alerting you to an overdue parking ticket, you may want to ignore it.
Durham Regional Police And City of Pickering officials are warning residents to ignore any text messages claiming to be from the city regarding parking tickets.
The fake text message circulating looks like a text that says it comes from City Hall, with some indicating that “parking violations” need to be paid in 60 minutes.
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Durham Regional Police say there are some scams currently running, so it’s important to be aware and remain vigilant.
“Our recommendation to everyone is that if you receive a text message from a number you do not recognize .. do not respond or offer any personal information or identifiers to any of them,” Const said. Emily Mitchell with Durham Regional Police.
In a statement, Jason Litoborsky, Acting Manager of Municipal Law Enforcement Services for the City of Pickering, said the City of Pickering will never contact residents via text regarding parking tickets, or any other enforcement matter.
“All communication related to outstanding parking fines is provided by mail to the registered owner of the vehicle,” Litoborsky said.
“It shall clearly indicate that it is from the City of Pickering, include the parking ticket number, vehicle license plate, location of the offense, and instructions on how to respond to the notice.”
Anyone who is unsure of the validity of any communication from the City of Pickering may contact customer service at 905-683-7575.
Police are also asking that anyone who has received this specific text message, or any similar text, to report it to police.
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