Is a text claiming I have an unpaid parking fine real?

Phishing texts impersonating parking enforcement authorities have become widespread. They claim an unpaid penalty charge notice is outstanding and provide a short-window link to pay. The link leads to a fake payment page that harvests your card details. Genuine penalty charge notices are issued as physical letters to the registered vehicle keeper's address and are administered through official council or national transport authority portals. If you receive a text about a parking fine, do not click the link. Look up the relevant authority independently and check for any genuine notices in your account or by calling them directly.

These campaigns are sent in enormous volumes because they only need a tiny response rate. The sums demanded are kept small deliberately — low enough that paying feels easier than checking — but the real objective is usually the card data entered on the fake page, which is then used for much larger fraud or sold on. Some variants follow a card entry with a phone call impersonating your bank to 'stop the fraud', extracting security codes while the panic is fresh.

If you did enter details, act on that assumption: tell your bank immediately, watch for follow-up calls claiming to be from their fraud team, and treat any such call as part of the same attack unless you dialled the number yourself.