Thursday, May. 7, 2026

Does the state of Missouri issue traffic violation warnings through text?

Neither the Missouri Department of Revenue nor the Missouri Courts sends out requests for payments, passwords or sensitive information via unsolicited texts.

Missouri residents have seen an increase in scam text messages claiming to be from the Missouri Department of Revenue or the Missouri Courts system. These text messages claim to be final notices of court enforcement actions for outstanding traffic violations, such as failure to pay tolls and parking and speeding violations.

These text messages include a website link or QR code that directs the receiver to make a payment for these violations.

The court and court officials named in the scam texts do not exist, the case numbers and citation numbers are not real, and the link provided does not go to an official government website, according to a Missouri Courts news release.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Missouri Department of Revenue webpage Current Scams and Alerts
Missouri Department of Transportation Facebook post The scammers are at it again
Missouri Courts webpage Scam Alert: Missouri courts issue warning about fake traffic ticket texts

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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network.

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Does the state of Missouri issue traffic violation warnings through text?

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