back to article Cunning scam: Mobe app stalks victims then emails booby-trapped bogus speeding tickets

Here's a smart scam that's cropped up on the US East Coast. It appears people have installed a free smartphone app – quite possibly a traffic monitoring tool – that keeps an eye on their whereabouts, and then emails them fake speeding tickets. Victims are tricked into thinking the messages are legit and have come from the cops …

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  1. Andy Non Silver badge

    Ingenius scam.

    While not condoning the actions of these scumbags, their creative ways of conning people are sometimes quite clever.

    1. Chris G

      Re: Ingenius scam.

      What is worse is, the cops will realise just what a useful tool it is and make everyone install it.I think vehicular tracking realtime will become the norm anyway regardless of so called autonomous cars.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Ingenius scam.

        By the time they can institute some sort of mandatory tracking of cars for purposes of traffic enforcement, we'll all have self driving cars so it won't matter. You can't get a ticket for your self driving car's actions if all you are doing is telling it where you go, but don't have control over the speed at which it travels.

        I sometimes wonder what police will do for revenue collection when they can't shake people down for speeding and lose the drunk driving revenue as well (not saying drunk driving should be ignored, but the police around here treat it as a profit center and constantly hassle the cab drivers who help minimize the number of drunks on the road)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Ingenius scam.

          > You can't get a ticket for your self driving car's actions if all you are doing is telling it where you go, but don't have control over the speed at which it travels.

          Dear poster, please do not persist that myth that self-driving cars will somehow relieve the driver of responsibility. If I may speak on the basis of my past experience as commercial pilot, even though most of the flying was done by a computer (called FMS) controlling both aircraft speed and course, I still:

          * Had to be licensed, in current practice, and medically fit to fly. Even though theoretically I might not touch a single control during an entire flight (in practice this doesn't happen, but for the sake of argument).

          * Was responsible for telling the aircraft where and how fast to go.

          * Was expected to be sufficiently knowledgeable of the aircraft systems' operation and able to recognise, and react to, abnormal situations.

          * Responded with my licence, and potentially my freedom, if I endangered myself, "my" aircraft, or somebody else's life, limb, or property.

          In addition to that, the Captain responded for any and all of my own fuck-ups, whether computer aided or not even if, as above, he hadn't touched a single control.

          For your hypothesis to be remotely conceivable, all the occupants of a vehicle would need to be mere passengers and exempt of any licensing or similar requirements. As of today this does not happen on public roads (thought there are some such systems, such as airport trains and metros) and it is unlikely to happen. The closest thing we've seen is the wee Google car (the ridiculous looking white things) and to my knowledge those are not intended to operate on public roads.

          1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

            Re:"occupants of a vehicle would need to be mere passengers"

            I do believe that flight has traditionally been more strictly controlled than driving. When a plane crashes, there is always an inquiry. Full examination is made of all the debris, and a lengthy report is written to establish the cause and possible procedures, or changes in procedures, to mitigate said cause in future.

            When a car crashes, if no one is injured it is generally self-declared to the insurance. If the car is damaged enough, an "expert" will be dispatched to put a price on the repairs, but he won't be there to find out what happened - that is not his job. Only when people have been severely injured or killed is there a more thorough investigation, but that practically never results in instructions to car makers to change this or that. It is just an official record that this many people died because car crash.

            So I find it perfectly believable that autonomous cars will, in time, not require a person to physically capable of driving, or even have a license. Not immediately, but there will be a time in the future where people will only learn to drive as a hobby, an eccentric fad, when everyone else is just driven everywhere by Johnny Autobot.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: occupants of a vehicle would need to be mere passengers"

              > So I find it perfectly believable that autonomous cars will, in time, not require a person to physically capable of driving, or even have a license

              Such autonomous vehicles have existed for years, just not on public roads. It is not currently foreseen that vehicles will be allowed to operate fully autonomously without qualified drivers on board, on public roads. In the longer term it may well happen, but for now that's in the realm of fiction.

          2. RPF

            Re: Ingenius scam.

            How the hell do you get airborne without anyone touching a single control?

            The BS is strong in this one.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Ingenius scam.

              > How the hell do you get airborne without anyone touching a single control?

              I did not say "anyone". I said "me", in the sense of "one of the flight crew". It is certainly not common, but it serves to illustrate the point.

              All commercial operations (with a couple exceptions) under EASA are multi-crew. My specific aircraft requires two pilots to fly regardless of type of operation, so save for incapacitation both the pilot flying and pilot monitoring roles involve operating certain controls during specific phases of flight. However the point is that even under the monitoring role one retains responsibility for the safe conduct of the flight.

              With that said, there are certainly scenarios where one's entire flight might be conducted without physically touching any controls. Long haul cruise pilots come to mind, in what is said to be the most boring job in aviation.

          3. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Ingenius scam.

            "The closest thing we've seen is the wee Google car (the ridiculous looking white things) and to my knowledge those are not intended to operate on public roads."

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_self-driving_car#Road_testing

            http://www.bmwblog.com/tag/bmw-autonomous-car/

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfbJYWrXS9I

          4. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            @AC the commercial pilot

            Google was already trying to get cars that don't have steering wheels or other driver controls onto the road, but California wouldn't let them. I think it is clear that's the way things are going, they just need to prove the cars a little more. While I agree that at first only licensed drivers capable of taking over control will be allowed in 'driverless' cars, I think that will only be a transition period. Eventually you'll have as much control over the car as you have from the back seat of a taxi and without a steering wheel or pedals how are you going to control it directly? Presumably there will be some way to drive off road like to a campground, they would need some way to drive off marked roads but I don't know how that would be handled.

            Flying is different from driving in that you don't just follow signs and traffic laws and lane markings to get where you are going, you follow instructions from the ground about heading, altitude and speed, which are different at different times depending on other traffic, weather, how loaded your plane is / how much fuel you have remaining, etc. Since most of flying is done far away from other planes, there is limited 'experience' an autopilot could get in handling emergencies so it really needs a pilot. With so many more car trips being taken the car's "autopilot" can gain that experience much more quickly, and the consequences for being wrong is a lot less fatal in a car.

            Given the consequences in terms of death toll for a plane crash versus a car crash - as well as the public acceptance (or lack of) for each (people fret about dying in plane crashes even though they are statistically more likely to die in a car crash on the way to the airport) it makes sense that they have higher standards for aviation than they will for self-driving cars.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: @AC the commercial pilot

              > Google was already trying to get cars that don't have steering wheels or other driver controls onto the road, but California wouldn't let them

              Could you please reference that?

              All I am asking is a report that at least one legislature somewhere in the world is currently contemplating allowing autonomous cars without a duly licensed driver on board to drive on public roads.

              So far a few people have chirped in to express their opinion of what the future could look like, which is very interesting and all, but nobody has bothered to show any actual evidence of change on that crucial point. Of course you would have read on some website / heard on TV about all kinds of fancy "rise of the machines" scenarios--their job is to sell copy / get clicks / audience and they're good at it. They're not so good at offering actual information though.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: @AC the commercial pilot

                Found in the first few paragraphs:

                http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/google-s-self-driving-cars-to-hit-roads-with-steering-wheels/

                Here, proof that NHTSA considers the computer the "driver", which implies no licensed driver is needed (or any human at all, necessarily)

                http://www.reuters.com/article/us-alphabet-autos-selfdriving-exclusive-idUSKCN0VJ00H

          5. Robert Helpmann??
            Childcatcher

            Re: Ingenius scam.

            First you complain about the myth of future cars and later end by stipulating the current situation? Nice.

            Planes are not cars and licensing requirements are quite different between the two. The push by self-driving car makers is exactly as you would dispute: they want governments in various jurisdictions to work out the various liability issues so that autonomous vehicles can be turned loose on the roadways of the world. They are reportedly willing to accept liability for their cars' actions if that means they will be able to manufacture and sell them. As long as the risk is a known factor, they will be able to work it into their respective business models. This is not the world as we know it today, but it is conceivably the world of the very near future.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Ingenius scam.

              > First you complain about the myth of future cars and later end by stipulating the current situation?

              Beg pardon? I did not say anything about "future cars" but about the hypothetical shift of liability from the driver to the manufacturer. And I do not understand what you mean by "stipulating the current situation". I am not entirely sure "stipulate" means what you think it does.

              > they want governments in various jurisdictions to work out the various liability issues so that autonomous vehicles can be turned loose on the roadways of the world.

              And could you please point where exactly are they lobbying for autonomous vehicles to be operated on public roads without a qualified driver on board?

              > They are reportedly willing to accept liability for their cars' actions if that means they will be able to manufacture and sell them

              Could you please tell me where I may find one such report?

              > This is not the world as we know it today,

              Precisely.

              > but it is conceivably the world of the very near future.

              Conceivable: "Capable of being imagined or grasped mentally."

              So yes, of course it's conceivable, out of an infinite number of possible scenarios.

              1. Robert Helpmann??
                Childcatcher

                Re: Ingenius scam.

                And could you please point where exactly are they lobbying for autonomous vehicles to be operated on public roads without a qualified driver on board?

                Since you asked nicely, here is the first example that Google (how apropos!) returned:

                http://www.iii.org/issue-update/self-driving-cars-and-insurance

          6. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects

        Re: youtube posse

        If it stops fat redneck arseholes pulling old women out of their cars in the middle of the night through the bloody windows, that has to be a good thing. It might even prod the plod into killing less dark skinned people by default.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: youtube posse

          'killing less dark skinned people'

          D' ya mean killing fewer people with dark skin or targeting those with paler faces?

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Meh

        Re: Ingenius scam.

        I think vehicular tracking real-time will become the norm anyway regardless of so called autonomous cars.

        Welcome to the UK my friend, where the police track all vehicles in real time using a big network of number plate recognition cameras.

        Of course, they have no statutory authority to do this, nor have they ever laid a report on its operation before Parliament, or even provided more than the most basic justification or information about its operation to anyone, but that is how they like to do things around here.

    2. Peter Simpson 1
      WTF?

      Re: Ingenius scam.

      'twould need to be clever to include an image of my license plate.

      I can understand the GPS thing and getting the email address, but how do they get the license plate picture?

      Not, of course, that I would ever pay something like that. Ask yourself: how would the police know my email address? Then ask yourself: is this a legal way of delivering a violation notice? (hint: no)

      1. mosw

        Re: Ingenius scam.

        "but how do they get the license plate picture?"

        The scammers don't have to have the licence plate picture they just imply it exists. They provide you with a convenient link to the license plate picture and once you click on that link the fun begins.

      2. Trainee grumpy old ****
        Meh

        Re: Ingenius scam.

        I can understand the GPS thing and getting the email address, but how do they get the license plate picture?

        By the time the mark realises that the attachment does not contain an image of the license plate it is too late.

    3. Version 1.0 Silver badge

      Re: Ingenius scam.

      LOL - this is a bit like a "citizens arrest" - except that the citizen has busted themselves. Who are you going to complain to about this?

      Please Mr Policeman, I was speeding the other day but you didn't catch me, however some other scumbag did...

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    Busted

    From Phillymag.com:

    "Tredyffrin doesn’t have speed cameras, and the police say that they have nothing to do with these citation notices, but here’s the thing: The residents were, in fact, speeding at the locations cited in the citations."

    Sounds like this hacker's primary crime is that he is usurping the prerogative of government. Big govt. proponents in the US often call for GPS to be built into cars so that authorities can see where and how fast you have gone. The data would be hard to delete and also protected by Force of Law. But it's all for good reasons, of course, and would never ever be mis-used.

    Just think, every time you break a traffic rule you would be fined automatically. Teenaged drivers would wear a haunted look. Before long the streets would be safe enough to eat off of. I can't wait!

    1. Ole Juul

      Re: Busted

      One would think that the mark would realize that the authorities don't use e-mail and all communication, such as a speeding ticket from an automated camera are sent to the address on record for the owner of the licence plate. That is the way it works in this province (Canada BC). I suspect jurisdictions where e-mail will suffice for delivery of legal papers would be rare, or even non existent.

  3. ma1010
    Big Brother

    They'll probabaly start doing it for real

    One of these days, what with requiring automatic crash detection, etc. installed in cars, they'll probably add in a speed monitoring app that WILL snitch you off to the police, who will happily mail (or perhaps e-mail) you a REAL traffic ticket if you speed. Why bother with speed cameras when they can make your car do their job for them?

    Got to love Big Brother, don't we, fellow citizens of Oceania?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: They'll probabaly start doing it for real

      I wouldn't mind a car system that just prevented speeding in the first place.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Trollface

        Re: They'll probabaly start doing it for real

        The cynic in me thinks they could not charge you monthly for such a device if it actually prevented...

        Oh wait, I may just need to go off and register a patent. ;)

      2. Gene Cash Silver badge

        Re: They'll probabaly start doing it for real

        Actually I just reached 50, so I am enjoying my new privilege of going the actual speed limits, especially since Gov. Scott vetoed the "slow people keep to the slow lane" bill, so I go 25mph in the left lane. (yes, a lot of the local speed limits are a ridiculous 25mph around here)

        I've been stopped for impeding traffic, and I love the look on the officer's face when I pull out the newspaper article about that. I've been like "PLEASE CITE ME" because it would be something I could take to court against the stupid speed limits, but they don't want to be tied up as a witness in such a case.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: They'll probabaly start doing it for real

          Why are you proud of being an asshole and impeding traffic? If you think the speed limit should be higher, then either go faster and risk a speeding ticket or go 25 mph in the right line. Your solution is like people who protest police violence by rioting and destroying cop cars.

          1. find users who cut cat tail

            Re: They'll probabaly start doing it for real

            > Your solution is like people who protest police violence by rioting and destroying cop cars.

            No, he actually protests by following the stupid rules to the letter.

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: They'll probabaly start doing it for real

            > Why are you proud of being an asshole and impeding traffic?

            I seem to remember there is no passing on the left (right) rule in the US? At least not unless otherwise indicated?

            1. Nifty Silver badge

              Re: They'll probabaly start doing it for real

              Correct, and in all my US driving I didn't encounter any self-righteous "you're not driving-quite-fast-enough-for-my-lane" cutter-inners. But people were still sensible on clearer stretches, using the outer lane for faster travel. Marvelous relaxed driving.

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              @AC some states have that rule

              But most don't. My state doesn't, but I was always taught to drive in the right lane, pass on the left. There's no penalty for staying in the left lane but most people are pretty good about it, and those who aren't are often just daydreaming and forgot to switch back to the right. I'll usually switch lanes to come up behind them instead of just passing on the right, and usually they'll move over, but if they don't get the hint then I'll pass on the right.

              Even though I am typically in the 98% percentile of overall traffic speed (i.e. I probably pass 50 cars for every one that passes me) I get over into the right lane whenever I can stay there for longer than 5-10 seconds and always move over when someone is coming up behind me unless I'm stuck behind a car in front of me.

              What irks me the most is when I'm cruising along in the left lane, and a slow vehicle that's moving 0.25 mph faster than the cars ahead of it cuts right in front of me at the last moment. If they just waited two seconds to change lanes, they could have cut in behind me and not slowed me down so instead they force me to travel slower while taking minutes to pass the brigade of traffic they were behind.

              For some reason semis are especially bad at this, to the point where if I'm approaching a truck that's in the right lane with some other traffic not far ahead of it I think he might be planning to pass I'll speed up trying to get past him before he has a chance to cut me off! Inevitably a semi that does this will switch lanes right before a long uphill stretch, leaving him unable to make any progress past the traffic on the right. Really makes me question whether semis should even be permitted in the left lane at all if they can't exercise any common sense.

        2. Alan Brown Silver badge

          Re: They'll probabaly start doing it for real

          " because it would be something I could take to court against the stupid speed limits, "

          Speed limits have little to do with road laws which generally have "keep right when not passing" built into them. (or left, for places which drive on the left side of the road).

          I've lived in a number of places where "slow people in the slow lane" bills have been proposed - and been trumped by someone (usually the police) pointing out that existing laws are sufficient.

          A cop pulling you over and citing you for "failing to keep right" doesn't need to mention that you're holding up traffic if it gets to court.

      3. Graham Marsden
        Holmes

        @Mycho - Re: They'll probabaly start doing it for real

        > I wouldn't mind a car system that just prevented speeding in the first place.

        Then fix the nut behind the wheel...

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: They'll probabaly start doing it for real

        > I wouldn't mind a car system that just prevented speeding in the first place.

        Try adaptive cruise control. Best invention since the steering wheel. :-)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: They'll probabaly start doing it for real

          "Try adaptive cruise control. Best invention since the steering wheel."

          Correction. Another 'gadget' to allow the driver to take less responsibility for his driving and become an even lazier driver. you ARE supposed to be concentrating on what you are doing you know.

          Just like eye level brake lights. If you are relying on a brake light at eye level you are probably travelling far to close to the car in front, and are certainly not reading the road ahead of you.

          Like all of these things, it CAN be useful in certain circumstances, but is inevitably misused.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Reasonable doubt

    There is nothing to prove the phone's owner was driving and not merely being a passenger

    1. Charles 9

      Re: Reasonable doubt

      In-car camera will fix that.

  5. jtaylor

    Not a bad idea

    I'll be "That Person" who suggests it might benefit drivers to have law enforcement tracking us, with the right transparency.

    First, I think that many traffic laws are not enforced. Some of those would probably be impossible to enforce (in an honest way. There are, of course, speed traps and the like.) A tool that catches literally all infractions would force traffic laws and traffic behavior to meet. We would probably see rationalization in both.

    Second, traffic laws are not enforced consistently. It's not always the fastest driver who gets pulled over for speeding, nor the most reckless driver who gets pulled over for doing something stupid. Some argue there are other factors at work, like personal appearance (race, dress, gender), type of car, neighborhood, and whether the officer had Wheaties that morning. If there's a full-scale surveillance of driving behavior, defendants could ask "why was I cited for a violation when your data shows that I was driving at typical traffic speeds, while other drivers were grossly exceeding the norm?" "Your department prosecutes dark-skinned drivers at a much higher rate than light-skinned drivers. Please provide data to show you are applying the law fairly."

    This reminds me of when the US adopted a 55mph speed limit. Protesters drove down the highways across all lanes, at precisely the speed limit, destroying traffic flows.

    1. Andy Non Silver badge
      Big Brother

      Re: Not a bad idea

      Maybe we should all be chipped at birth too and everything we do monitored, everything we do on our computers sent back to "the authorities" (or Microsoft), our television sets watching and listening on every word and deed in our living rooms, our mobile phones tracking everything we do and where we go notifying "the authorities" (or Google) and when outdoors, CCTV cameras watching our every move, all in the interests of upholding "the law". Transparently too as we all know about the monitoring.

      War is peace.

      Slavery is freedom.

      Ignorance is strength.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Not a bad idea

        > Maybe we should all be chipped at birth too

        Except that, everything else you mention is already being done, and quite overtly at that.

        But to be fair, the person above (jtaylor) makes a reasonable point. Let me explain.

        Traffic accidents (which for the sake of argument, we will say traffic laws are meant to minimise, although we know this is a somewhat leaky argument) have an immense cost both in terms of fatalities and economical impact, many orders of magnitude bigger than our favourite root-of-all-evil these days, terrorism: 25,900 road fatalities vs 4 terrorism-related deaths in the EU in 2014.

        Now let us reflect on the price we are paying in terms of individual freedoms for those four victims (and how little bang for the buck we are getting, seeing the 150 or so intra-EU terrorism casualties in 2015). Remember, this is a price we are already paying. What if instead, we were to pay a similar price in order to save 25,900 lives, remembering that in every case there is a family, friends, and colleague behind each victim. We know that society can tolerate such level of intrusion, since we are already subject to it. The question that remains is, would that be a fair price to pay?

        In brief, what I believe jtaylor is implying is that it is not so much the tracking that society finds unacceptable (regardless of what a number of individuals, me included, may think of it), but the morally dubious and non-transparent use being made thereof.

        At the end of the day though, repression always has limited effectiveness in the absence of proper education and sense of individual responsibility.

    2. Mark 85

      Re: Not a bad idea

      I'd be careful of what you wish for. We're already having our privacy eroded on the Net by governments, corporates, etc.

      This is a very slippery slope to be on. Ok.. so they use it to enforce speed limits. Then what? Visiting certain neighborhoods? Attending meetings... especially political? This will escalate so fast in almost every country I can think of that it's scary where we could all be in a few years.

      Go read the posts and articles on "snooping",... this is just as bad, maybe even worse.

    3. Graham Marsden
      Stop

      @jtaylor - Re: Not a bad idea

      > it might benefit drivers to have law enforcement tracking us

      Here in the UK, the last Labour Government wanted to introduce ANPR cameras at all junctions on major roads (ie motorways and dual carriageways) with the idea that if you got from A to B faster than the speed limit, they could automatically issue you with a speeding ticket.

      Fortunately saner minds prevailed after it was pointed out that not only would this create a massive Snoopers Database (even bigger than the current ANPR database) that could be used to track the journeys of road users, but it would also result in many people leaving the major roads and, instead, going through the small towns and villages which said motorways and dual carriageways were designed to bypass, in order to avoid the cameras, thus clogging up those roads instead.

      If traffic laws are not enforced well, this is not the way to improve such enforcement.

  6. JC-Reg

    Funny no one stopped to think...

    Just how did the police get my e-mail address anyway.

    1. Bob Rocket

      Re: Funny no one stopped to think...

      When you taxed your car they used to send you a tax disc, now they just email a receipt.

      1. Number6

        Re: Funny no one stopped to think...

        The email address the government has for me is not the one I'd expect my phone to know, given that I use different ones for different purposes. That's usually the first give-away, that it wasn't sent to the correct email address.

  7. David Kelly 2

    What App?

    So what app is doing this? Where are people getting it? How can it be avoided?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What App?

      IPhone app . you can tell, as it's disguised by the generic "smartphone" term. If it were Android, it would be aboard the bandwagon

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