Did You Get A Text This Week Saying You Owed The Cumberland County District Court Money? You’re Not Alone

You've got to hand it to them, scammers are getting more and more desperate, and more and more persistent.

Not once, not twice, but three times in one day I got this text, just this week!

If you read the fine print, it says it's from the "State of Maine District Court of Cumberland County Traffic Division" and it claims to be a "Final Enforcement Notice" requesting compliance with the an enforcement order.

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At first glance, it looked official enough to make me wonder what I had done or forgotten to do. But as I read on, I realized it was all bogus.

It stated I had been formally declared delinquent and in default...but of what they really didn't say.

They said that all prior notices and compliance deadlines and opportunities to resolved the voluntarily had been terminates, and that the matter was now being escalated. But they still hadn't mentioned what the matter actual was until further down the note, when they basically just listed what a handful of things I definitely knew I hadn't done:

Failure to pay an electric toll, along with committing a parking violation and speeding.

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The text messaged threatened that if I didn't immediately comply and take action to resolve that matter but paying the full amount owed, which they never actually listed, that I would be expected to make a court appearance, and faced a suspended license, fees, and other penalties.

They even gave me a date of the court hearing.

Then they added a QR code I could scan to pay, if I didn't want to get into trouble.

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While I am a super skeptical person, and trust no one (thanks to growing up on the X-Files) I know that to the untrained eye, it could very well have seemed like a legitimate text. And I'm afraid of the number of naive or uninformed folks who trusted the authenticity of such a text, and scanned that QR Code, giving scammers exactly what they wanted.

The Maine Attorney General's Office has a long list of ways in which folks are trying to fleece people of their hard-earned money, so it's a good idea to check that often.

In fact, the State of Maine Judicial Branch issued a warning to Mainers last month about this very scam.

"The Maine Judicial Branch is warning the public of a widespread text messaging scam falsely claiming to be from the 'State of Maine in the District Court of Cumberland County Traffic Division.' The notice appears to be AI generated and instructs payment via a QR code...If you receive one of these messages, do not click on the link and do not provide any personal information in response. If you have a question about a traffic violation please call the Violations Bureau."

According to WGME, some folks were fooled by the scam, and actually showed up at the courthouse.

"Officials say 13 people went to the Cumberland County Courthouse expecting a real hearing. Marshals had to tell them there was no case. Court officials say they were preparing for dozens more and say all those calls are a sign people are double-checking before sending money. But there’s no way to know how many people may have paid."

This is why it is important to stay informed and ask questions of professionals if you have doubts or concerns about the legitimacy of something. It's probably not a bad idea to talk to your kids who might have phones, and older folks who may not be as tech savvy, about not answering texts like these, or offering up personal or banking information through texts, either.

The Consumer Financial Services Law Monitor says the number of people losing money to text scams is on the rise. In 2024 alone, over $470 million dollars were reportedly lost due to a variety of text scams, the top 5 of which were comprised of Fake Package Delivery Problems, Phony Job Opportunities,.Fake Fraud Alerts, Bogus Notices About Unpaid Tolls and Wrong Number” Texts.

The Federal Trade Commission says if suspect something is a scam, you can check on or report it here.