{"id":189949,"date":"2026-04-08T19:50:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/189949\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T19:50:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:50:02","slug":"news-12-brooklyn-fake-nys-court-text-scam-demanding-money-sparks-panic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/189949\/","title":{"rendered":"News 12 | Brooklyn | Fake NYS court text scam demanding money sparks panic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Text messages claiming to be from the \u201cNew York State Criminal Court\u201d are raising alarms among residents, warning of costly car violations and even threatening a court date. But there\u2019s one major problem: the case doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n<p>For some, the message looked convincing enough to spark immediate concern.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Oh, my gosh &#8211; like how do they get away with doing stuff like that?&#8221; said resident Debbie Buchman.<\/p>\n<p>Many residents say this seemingly simple text sent them rushing to the courthouse, only to discover it was all part of a scam.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was also receiving text messages, like there\u2019s a link for this information. People really need to spread more awareness,&#8221; said Afsham, another resident.<\/p>\n<p>Scams like these are far from rare. <\/p>\n<p>In 2024 alone, Americans lost more than $12 billion to fraud, according to the Federal Trade Commission, with a significant portion involving imposters posing as government agencies or trusted brands.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They get people to have, like, tunnel vision and feel that the only way to resolve the issue is to do what the scammer wants,&#8221; said resident Mark Torres. &#8220;Unless you can prove to me what you&#8217;re saying, I ain&#8217;t got no time for you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As these scams become increasingly sophisticated, authorities are urging the public to stay vigilant. The NYPD\u2019s 102nd Precinct is warning residents not to engage with suspicious messages like these &#8211; especially those that include QR codes or payment links, and to delete them immediately.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think unfortunately, that&#8217;s the age we live in, and we just have to educate people and let them know to be careful,&#8221; Buchman added.<\/p>\n<p>NYPD officials say if you receive a suspicious text or email asking for money, do not respond. Instead, report it through official channels to help prevent others from becoming victims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Text messages claiming to be from the \u201cNew York State Criminal Court\u201d are raising alarms among residents, warning&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,2803,9,24,49,63,71648],"class_list":{"0":"post-189949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-news","11":"tag-court","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-new-york-state","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-text-message-scam"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}