Boston Police warn residents about fake court parking-violation hearing notices using QR codes to solicit payments

A new scam mimics court paperwork and urges immediate payment

The Boston Police Department has issued a public warning about fraudulent documents circulating in the city that are designed to resemble official parking-violation court notices. The documents are formatted as a “Notice of Hearing | Parking Violation” and purport to come from the Boston Municipal Court, but police say the notices are not issued by the City of Boston or any government agency.

Police say the paperwork is crafted to look credible, often listing a case number, a judge’s name and signature, a Boston Municipal Court address, and a specific hearing date. The counterfeit notices also include a Massachusetts state seal and a QR code intended to prompt recipients to make a payment quickly.

What residents are being told to avoid

The department’s guidance is direct: residents should not scan the QR code and should not send money in response to any unsolicited notice before confirming its authenticity through official channels.

“Do not scan the QR code or submit any payment based on an unsolicited notice without first verifying it through official channels.”

How to verify whether a parking violation is real

Boston officials note that legitimate parking violations can be checked through the City of Boston’s official parking ticket system. The police department has advised residents who are concerned they may have an unpaid ticket to verify the ticket’s status through the city’s established payment and lookup process rather than relying on contact information, QR codes, or payment instructions contained in unexpected notices.

Context: a continuing pattern of parking-related impersonation attempts

The warning follows earlier public alerts about parking-related scams aimed at Boston residents, including text-message schemes that claimed recipients had overdue parking ticket fees. In those cases, police said the messages were not sent by city government and urged residents to avoid engaging with suspicious links and to rely on official city processes to confirm any outstanding fees.

What to do if you receive one of the notices

• Do not scan QR codes included on unsolicited notices requesting payment.
• Do not provide payment or personal information in response to unexpected demands tied to parking violations.
• Verify any suspected ticket through the City of Boston’s official parking ticket verification and payment system.
• Report suspected fraud to the Boston Police Department, particularly if money or personal information was provided.

Police are asking residents who receive the fake notices—or who believe they may have been victimized—to report the incident so investigators can better understand how widely the documents are circulating and what methods are being used to distribute them.