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Over the past several weeks, the Office of the Miami-Dade County Tax Collector has received a surge of reports from residents who have been targeted by a coordinated and malicious phishing campaign. Fraudulent text messages—falsely claiming to be from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV)—have been sent en masse, warning recipients of unpaid tolls and threatening license suspension, legal action, and credit damage if immediate payment is not made through a deceptive link.This is a calculated scam. It is a predatory and criminal effort to defraud our community by impersonating a trusted state agency and harvesting sensitive personal data. The messages include a counterfeit web address that closely mimics the official FLHSMV domain in an effort to mislead residents into complying.
“We are working closely with state and federal authorities to bring those behind this criminal scheme to justice. Let me be clear: we will not tolerate any attempt to defraud our residents or exploit the trust they place in public institutions. As your Tax Collector, my top priority is protecting the people of Miami-Dade County. These predatory tactics are an attack on our community—and we will use every tool available to hold those responsible fully accountable,” said Miami-Dade County Tax Collector Dariel Fernández.
We strongly urge the public to protect themselves by following these critical precautions:
- Do NOT click the link. It may compromise your personal and financial information. Mark the message as spam and delete it immediately.
- Do NOT confuse this with a legitimate traffic or parking citation.
- FLHSMV will never attempt to collect any fees via text.
Our priority is ensuring that no resident of Miami-Dade falls victim to these fraudulent tactics.
