Alameda County warning public of new traffic citation scam: Here's what to know

ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- In the East Bay, the Superior Court of Alameda County is warning the public about a new scam involving traffic citations.

"We got word from a couple residents asking about a traffic citation, and they said they received a text message saying that they had unpaid fines due to traffic citations. We immediately alerted them that that was a scam," said Paul T. Rosynsky, PIO for the Superior Court of Alameda County.

The Court's Public Information officer said they are glad the public alerted them to this.

"As soon as you get to the website, there is a button there that says 'pay your traffic fine.' You click on that button, and you can put your first and last name and driver's license, and a history of all your citations will appear," Rosynsky said.

The Alameda County court confirmed it does not contact the public through text messages to make payments for traffic citations.

MORE: FasTrak warning drivers of text scam that continues to be sent to mobile phones: Here's what to know

This is not the first scam involving the court. The judicial branch of California put out an alert informing the public of a previous scam that claimed people needed to pay after failing to appear for jury duty

"There is so much fraud that a lot of people cannot distinguish fraud from reality," said Sandi Bethune, Oakland resident.

The court wants the public to report these scams to police and avoid clicking suspicious links.

"We don't want people to get duped to giving out information that can lead to identify theft," Rosynsky said.

Many say their phones have been bombarded with text message scams. Some texts claim people owe money to FasTrak or other entities, so these new scams don't surprise them.

MORE: SFMTA parking ticket scam texts have Bay Area cyber experts warning of evolving fraud trends

"I myself, I receive a text message, but I read it, and I understand it and know it is fake," said Moises Salazar, Oakland resident.

This week, there was a new fake parking citation allegedly from the city of Oakland. We confirmed, and it's not real, but it turns out this time this wasn't a scam.

"Someone came into the courthouse the other day with a parking citation from the city of Oakland that said it owed $58 with the QR code to scan, but when you scan the QR code, it actually goes to a musician's website," Rosynsky said.

Some say all of this is increasing their need to stay vigilant.

"I'm not paying for a ticket that I know I don't deserve, or I didn't get, so that is how I would handle it. But I feel for a lot of people who don't recognize that is fake," said Bethune.

To look up or pay for your traffic ticket, visit here.