Police warn of fake ServiceOntario text messages offering refunds for licence plate stickers

Police are warning Ontarians of a new text message scam that claims to give a licence plate sticker refund to residents, weeks before they're supposed to be sent out by the provincial government.

The texts, which claim to be sent by ServiceOntario, were seen circulating social media Sunday evening and come with a link that would supposedly give someone a refund for the soon-to-be defunct licence plate stickers.

The scam comes less than one week after the Ford government announced it would scrapvehicle licence plate stickers and theirrenewalfees,effective March 13.

Peel Regional Police says the text scam is being sent to many residentsand are warning the public not to engage.

The province also says it'saware of the phishing scam and is working with the Ontario Provincial Police and other law enforcement partners, saysMinistryofGovernment and Consumer Services spokesperson Sebastian Skamski.

"Individuals should not open or click on any links as this message is not authorized by ServiceOntario and is a scam," wrote Skamski in an email.

Returned fees will typically range from $60 to $240, dependent on when you last renewed your sticker and how much you paid at the time.

ServiceOntario will not be contacting residents with links for a refund, Skamski said. Instead, Ontarians will receive their refunds by cheque through the mail in late March through April.

Scam came 'almost instantly'

According to the non-profit KnowledgeFlowCybersafety Foundation,fraudsters can take weeks to craft a scam together after identifying a timely event to exploit. But this time, thisscam was crafted in a matter of days.

"No doubt, it confused a lot of people," the organization's co-founder, Claudiu Popa, toldCBC News. "And it's very difficult to get the figures around just how many people would have clicked on the fraudulent link."

Popa says people should never click an unsolicited link, as it could infect a mobile device or computer with spyware or trick users into giving up vulnerable information such as credit card numbers andpasswords.

He says this scam fits within a growing trend of cyberattacks.

In 2020,the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre logged 101,483 fraud reports involving nearly $160 million in reported losses. It's estimated that fewer than five per cent of victims file a fraud report. In the first month of 2022, the centrereported that Canadians lost $34 million lost to fraud alone.

The Ministry is asking anyone who have received the scam message or opened the linkto report it to local police or call the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.