Red Light Camera Scam False Alarm

CLEARWATER, FL — The Pinellas County Tax Collector's Office has announced that an email scam it warned residents about Tuesday morning has turned out to be a false alarm.

"The Pinellas County Tax Collector's office just received notice from the Clearwater Police Department that the email scam reported to our office from concerned residents is the result of an IT training exercise at BayCare to test whether or not the organization's recent phishing training was successful," a Tuesday afternoon email from the tax collector's office said.

Earlier: A new email scam making the rounds in Pinellas County has officials warning residents to beware.

According to the Pinellas County Tax Collector’s Office, the agency received several calls Tuesday morning from people asking about emails they had received. The emails claim to be from local Department of Motor Vehicles, but officials say they most assuredly are not.

The emails fraudulently inform recipients “that they have a red light camera traffic violation and they have 72 hours to pay the citation,” the tax collector’s office said. The email is a scam, the agency said. Residents who receive the scam emails are being asked to delete them immediately and to make sure not to click on any links.

"It is unconscionable that scammers pose as government agencies in an attempt to defraud the public," Charles W. Thomas, Pinellas County Tax Collector, said in a March 14 statement. "We are working with the State Attorney's Office, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, and tax collectors across the state to warn residents of this scam and to pursue legal action against its creator(s)."

For more information about active scams across the country, visit the Federal Trade Commission online.

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