If you own a car, don’t fool for text messages that are landing on phones this month.
UK car owners must stay on high alert and watch out for an urgent text message that is being sent to smartphones. Scammers are back, and this time they are using the worry of parking tickets to try and cash in. This new threat has been spotted by the team at Mirror Online and it’s seriously convincing – in fact, it’s one of the most realistic attacks we’ve seen in some time.
Things start with a simple text that arrives and claims a Parking Charge Notice (PCN hasn’t been paid. This message also includes a warning that things will get worse if the payment isn’t made within a few days.
“Parking Charge Notice (PCN): The record shows that you have unpaid parking fines,” the message seen by Mirror Online reads.
“The deadline for paying the fine is August 26, 2025. If you fail to pay the fine on time, you may be subject to additional fines and interest.”
The text then includes an embedded link, and we advise anyone who gets this message not to click. That same warning has also been issued by a number of local councils, who say they have seen a surge in this type of scam over the past few weeks.
In a post online, Trafford Council said, “Please don’t click the link or make any payment,” and Royal Borough of Greenwich added, “If you receive a text claiming to be a PCN, it’s likely a scam.”
So what happens if you do tap the on link? To help stop you from getting scammed, Mirror online followed the whole process and it’s easy to see how some could get caught out.
Once pressed we were taken to a website that appeared identical to the UK Government’s official GOV.UK website. Even the font, design and colours all matched the real page.
Here we were asked to add a postcode for our local council and then our car’s registration.
To see what happens next, we added fake details and were then told we needed to pay a £20 fine with a “Pay Now” button appearing under the penalty charge notice.
Anyone fooled will then be asked to supply their full address, name, and banking details. Once that’s done, the scammers will have full access to account data, which can then be used to steal money.
If you get a text that claims you have a PCN be on high alert and don’t click on any links from a message.
“Do not give out private information (such as bank details or passwords), reply to text messages, download attachments or click on any links in emails if you’re not sure they’re genuine,” the GOV.UK site explains.
Stay alert as scammers continue to try a swathe of tricks to get your data.