The Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) has issued a warning to the public over concerns about an increase in after-hours scams targeting motorists.
RTIA recently observed an increase in after-hours scams targeting motorists with fake traffic fines and alerted drivers to this through a series of X posts.
It advises drivers to disregard these messages and verify any concerns with it during office hours.
“Important reminder: RTIA has noticed an increase in after working hours scam emails regarding traffic fines,” it said.
“RTIA urges you to ignore these messages and confirm any concerns with us during working hours.”
RTIA presents itself as the home of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act, and this warning is therefore relevant to motorists in areas where the Aarto is in operation.
This refers to Johannesburg and Tshwane, the two areas where the Aarto is being tested ahead of its planned national rollout.
That said, other stakeholders have warned of similar scams being sent to motorists nationwide.
PayCity, for instance, recently warned of an increase in phishing scams, in which fraudsters send fake fine notifications impersonating the company.
“We have been made aware of several phishing scams where fraudsters send fake traffic fine notification messages pretending to impersonate PayCity,” it said.
“These messages may include fraudulent payment links from domains that are not associated with PayCity.”
PayCity also clarified that it does send official payment links via email, SMS, and WhatsApp; these will always originate from the paycity.co.za domain.
“If the communication or payment link does not point to the paycity.co.za domain, it is not safe to use,” it said.
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) issued a similar warning in July 2025, noting that the National Traffic Information System (Natis) never requests payment through vague emails.
“Beware of phishing emails claiming you owe a traffic fine. Natis will never demand payment via suspicious links. Real emails include your vehicle information,” it said.
“Delete the scam email. Don’t click on any suspicious links or share personal details.”
Issues with paying online
William Booth, a criminal defence lawyer, warned in October of this year that paying traffic fines through third-party groups was risky.
He noted that these platforms could provide incorrect or false information, with the primary risk being the reliability and legitimacy of the data they provide.
There is also the additional risk that fraudsters impersonate legitimate online traffic fine payment platforms to scam motorists.
“I think the problem these days is we all get notifications from all kinds of sources, and most of them are actually bogus,” said Booth.
“The problem with all these fine sites is that they may or may not be bogus, and they may or may not be correct.”
Booth also noted that a third-party site may indicate a motorist has multiple outstanding fines, but that the person posting this could be mistaken.
“Then it turns out that you don’t have the fines, and whoever posted it there got it wrong,” said Booth.
This problem is compounded by the tendency for such sites to encourage motorists to pay quickly, as they likely receive commissions for doing so.
“They may even add up a higher fine than what you are actually supposed to be paying. The message is to be careful about this because it might not be correct, and you end up paying money you don’t have to,” said Booth.
He concluded by advising motorists to verify such platforms and the information provided is legitimate before making any hasty payments.
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