Spam Gallery–Traffic Ticket

The Spam Gallery is a series of posts that give examples of spam messages, explaining telltales signs of how they are spam.

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This email is one of those that gives you a single option and that is the option that will wreak havoc.  Here’s the signs of spam:

  • A subject that makes you feel you need to take immediate action.  A traffic ticket that is wrongly issued would scare most people into taking action.
  • The FROM address is from AOL.  It is not likely the LA police department is using AOL for email.
  • A strange formatting of an official document.  “POLICE AGENCY” is very out of place.
  • The time is misformatted (“0:14 AM”).
  • Although the date format is DD/MM/YYYY, and that format is used by the military and federal government, it typically is not used in normal communication.  It may make the notice seem more official, though.
  • Lack of details such as license plate, your name, anything more than “SPEED OVER 90 ZONE”, which in itself doesn’t make any sense.
  • The email is marked as being replied to and forwarded, but the email body has no headers from previous recipients.
  • The link address does not go to any website that would even make sense for entering a plea.

Don’t rush to click the first link you see if the message freaks you out. There is plenty of time to evaluate a notice.  Always check link addresses.