The Ministry of Justice has issued a warning over a fraudulent text message circulating that falsely claims to originate from the ministry and attempts to trick recipients into paying traffic fines through a suspicious website.
According to the ministry, the SMS—titled “Notice of Administrative Enforcement”—includes a fake case number and alleges that a traffic violation was detected via surveillance systems. It urges recipients to pay an outstanding fine within a set deadline or face supposed administrative and legal consequences.
The message also contains a link directing users to a counterfeit payment platform, where victims are encouraged to view alleged footage of the violation and complete an online payment. Authorities say the message is designed to create a sense of urgency and pressure users into clicking the link immediately.
The ministry confirmed that the website referenced in the SMS is fraudulent and is not connected to the official government portal for traffic fine payments, which is available only through the secure address: https://amendes.justice.gov.ma.
Officials highlighted several signs of fraud, including alarmist language, threats of immediate penalties such as account seizures, and technical irregularities in the web address. These include a misspelling in the domain name and the use of a free, non-governmental domain, both of which are inconsistent with official state platforms.
The ministry urged citizens not to click on suspicious links, not to share personal or banking information, and to verify all websites before use. It also recommended deleting such messages immediately and reporting any suspected phishing attempts to the relevant authorities.
The warning comes as part of ongoing efforts to combat cyber fraud and protect citizens from scams that misuse the names and identities of public institutions to steal sensitive personal and financial data.
