SA Motorists Warned: Fake Traffic Fines Surge Ahead of AARTO Rollout
- Karen Scheepers
- 12 hours ago
- 6 min read
South African motorists are being warned about a surge in fake “ghost” traffic fine scams as the country prepares for the rollout of the new Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) demerit system on 1 December 2025.
Traffic fine management platform Fines SA reports a sharp increase in complaints from drivers who were tricked into paying non-existent fines. Scammers are exploiting confusion surrounding the upcoming AARTO law by sending fraudulent SMS, WhatsApp, and email notices that closely mimic official traffic fine communications. Motorists who fall victim end up paying money into fraudulent accounts, thinking they are settling legitimate fines, only to discover the fines never existed and no payment was officially recorded.
AARTO Demerit System Background
AARTO is South Africa’s new framework for handling traffic violations, introducing a driver demerit points system. Under AARTO, traffic fines will be tied directly to licence points: each infringement carries a set number of demerit points, and accumulating too many points can lead to a suspended or even cancelled driver’s licence. In fact, 15 demerit points is the threshold at which a licence may be suspended for three months (multiple suspensions could result in cancellation of the licence). The law’s implementation will be phased in: the first stage of AARTO will launch on 1 December 2025, expanding the system to 69 major municipalities.
This will be followed by a second phase covering 144 additional municipalities from 1 April 2026, with the nationwide demerit-point system slated to fully take effect by September 2026. The goal of AARTO is to remove habitual traffic offenders from the roads and improve road safety by penalizing repeat violations under a unified system.
However, the rollout timeline of AARTO has been a source of public confusion. Earlier in 2025, several news outlets misreported the start date, initially claiming AARTO would begin in June 2025, then “correcting” it to October 2025, before authorities clarified and officially gazetted the December 2025 launch date. The Department of Transport even briefly cited the wrong October start date in its communications before fixing the error.
This swirl of contradictory information created uncertainty among motorists about when and how the new system would kick in. Unfortunately, scammers have seized on this confusion: amid the mixed messages, fraudsters began circulating fake fine notices, taking advantage of drivers’ mistaken beliefs and urgency regarding AARTO’s requirements.
‘Ghost Fine’ Scams Exploit Confusion
In a typical “ghost fine” scam, a driver receives a text message, email, or WhatsApp claiming they have an outstanding traffic fine, often with urgent wording to “pay immediately to avoid penalties.” The message includes a payment link that leads to a website virtually indistinguishable from an official municipal traffic fine portal or aggregator site. Barry Berman, CEO of Fines SA, notes that these scam communications appear very convincing: “The messages look legitimate, same logos, same wording, but they direct motorists to unsafe websites.”
If the victim proceeds to enter their payment details on this cloned site, the funds are siphoned off into fraudulent accounts, and because the fine was never real, there is no record of payment in any official system. As Berman warns, “Once you’ve paid, your money’s gone and the fine still stands” - the motorist loses their money and remains liable for the (nonexistent or still-unpaid) fine.
Criminals are leveraging motorists’ anxiety to comply with the new law. Many drivers are unclear on how AARTO’s demerit system will affect them and are rushing to settle any fines before the system kicks in. Fraudsters exploit this urgency and uncertainty: victims, fearing extra penalties or points on their licence, may act hastily on a bogus fine notification without double-checking its authenticity.
This scam surge is especially concerning as AARTO’s full implementation draws nearer. Once the demerit system is active, falling for a ghost-fine scam could mean not only losing money, but also still incurring demerit points and penalties because the fine remains officially unpaid. In other words, a driver could pay a fraudster and think their fine is resolved, only to later face a licence suspension for an “unpaid” infringement that was never actually settled in the eyes of authorities. Fines SA cautions that the potential for harm will only intensify in 2026 when demerit points start counting against drivers’ records.
Part of a Bigger Wave of Digital Fraud
The spike in traffic fine scams comes amid a broader surge in digital fraud across South Africa. The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) reports that digital banking fraud accounted for 65.3% of all reported banking incidents in 2024, with cases jumping from 31,612 in 2023 to roughly 64,000 in 2024. Financial losses from online scams now exceed R1.4 billion per year in South Africa. Importantly, most of these fraud cases are not due to high-tech hacking of bank systems, but rather social engineering, tricking people via fraudulent messages and websites, much like the ghost fine scam does.
Phishing and scam tactics are on the rise globally as well. Cybersecurity analysts noted a 26% increase in phishing attempts worldwide in 2024, and South Africa saw a 134% spike in phishing attacks targeting corporate users in just one quarter of 2023. This environment means the public is being bombarded with ever-more convincing scam attempts. The ghost fine scam is yet another flavor of phishing, exploiting a government program (AARTO) as the lure. Given the prevalence of such fraud, motorists need to be extra vigilant with any communications about fines or payments.
How to Spot and Avoid Fake Traffic Fines
Authorities and consumer experts advise motorists to take a cautious approach toward any traffic fine notifications, especially unsolicited electronic messages. To avoid falling victim to “ghost fine” scams, consider the following tips and precautions:
Do NOT click on payment links sent in unsolicited messages: If you receive an unexpected SMS, WhatsApp, or email about a traffic fine, particularly one you were unaware of, do not use any link provided. These links may lead to cloned websites that look official but are controlled by scammers.
Verify fines through official channels: Instead of trusting a random message, check your traffic fines via official sources. This could mean logging into the relevant municipality’s traffic fines portal or using a trusted, verified platform that aggregates fines (such as the government’s AARTO services or reputable third-party apps). By entering your ID number or vehicle details on an official site, you can confirm if a fine is legitimate and outstanding.
Look for secure website signs: If you do proceed to an online payment, examine the website’s URL and security. Legitimate payment sites will use HTTPS (look for the padlock icon in the address bar) and have a web address that matches the official municipal or service domain. Be wary of any site whose URL is unfamiliar, oddly spelled, or lacks security certificates, that’s a red flag of a fake.
Contact authorities when in doubt: When in doubt about a fine’s authenticity, contact the issuing authority directly. You can reach out to your local traffic department or police station with the notice details and ask if the fine is on their system. Taking a little extra time to verify with an official source can save you from paying scammers. If the message claimed urgency, remember that genuine fines typically follow due process and fixed timelines, you won’t get a sudden last-minute demand to pay via SMS without prior official notices.
Barry Berman emphasizes that motorists should not panic or rush when they receive a fine notification. “The best way to prevent falling victim to a scam is by deleting any suspicious notifications,” he advises. In practice, this means if you get a message about a fine that doesn’t seem right, ignore or delete it, and then proactively check your fines through a trusted source.
Staying Safe and Proactive
As the AARTO era begins, staying vigilant and informed is key for South African drivers. Rather than reacting impulsively to every message about fines, motorists are encouraged to take charge of their fine management through secure, verified platforms. Berman recommends signing up with a reputable traffic fines service or using official government portals that provide a trusted overview of any fines, send real-time notifications for new infringements, and offer secure payment methods.
For example, Fines SA, the platform sounding the alarm on these scams, says it consolidates fine data from over 250 municipalities and routes payments directly to the official municipal accounts, ensuring that any payment you make actually goes toward settling a legitimate fine. Utilizing such services or the official AARTO system can help motorists confidently distinguish real fines from fake ones.
Finally, experts underscore that a healthy dose of skepticism can go a long way. Think twice before clicking on any link or paying money based on a message you weren’t expecting. If something feels off, take a step back and verify. “If in doubt, stop and check, a few minutes of verification could save you thousands,” Berman says.
By staying alert and double-checking fine notices during this transition to AARTO, motorists can protect both their wallets and their driving licences from fraudsters. The looming AARTO rollout may be new ground for everyone, but with caution and the use of official channels, drivers can avoid being caught by these “ghost fine” traps.
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