Text message scams: The judicial branch understands the problem better now

If you want to draw attention to a problem in Kansas, then do your best to make sure that problem is known to the Kansas Supreme Court.

Text message scammers are not known for their intelligence and long term planning. Case in point:

The Kansas judicial branch is now raising awareness about a new text message scam that appears to be from the Kansas Supreme Court about a subpoena over unpaid tolls incurred with the Kansas Turnpike Authority. 

The Kansas judicial branch is advising that anyone who receives the text message should ignore the requests to respond or visit links. 

Instead, the recipient should report it as junk and delete it. 

Any person can check whether they have a case pending before a Kansas court using the Kansas District Court Records CaseSearch, according to the judicial branch.

If a case exists on CaseSearch, it will also generally show whether there are any unpaid fines or fees.

The CaseSearch site links to the KSCourts Central Payment Center where payments can be made online. 

The judicial branch encourages the public to check the Spot the Scam webpage whenever they are contacted by someone who claims to be with a court. 

The page also suggests that everyone be alert for these signs that a contact they did not expect is a scam:  

*Scammer initiates contact. Scammers will call, text, or email using phone numbers, email addresses, website links and documents that look real but are fake. 

*Scammers ask for personal information. Never give a Social Security number, bank account details, or credit card information to someone you don’t contact on your own.

*Scammers demand payment. Scammers will pressure you to pay now using gift cards or apps like PayPal, Venmo or Cash App. They will tell you something bad will happen if you don’t pay now.

The page also gives guidance for reporting scams and a link to contact information for courts statewide. 

Text message scams like these prey on Kansas citizens 24-7 these days and when the scammers are caught, the judicial branch should throw the book at them.

Tougher penalties for these types of crimes in Kansas are now more likely, in my view, since the Kansas Supreme Court itself has been targeted and the judicial branch has had to do its own damage control.