The City of Cape Town’s traffic service has warned motorists against falling prey to scammers when paying their fines and to make sure they are using legitimate channels. Picture: Armand Hough/African News Agency (ANA) Archives
Cape Town - The City of Cape Town’s traffic service has warned motorists against falling prey to scammers when paying their fines and to make sure they are using legitimate channels.
The City’s traffic service cautions motorists to stick to official channels when making fine payments. Recently, there have been some complaints directed to the traffic service from motorists who have lost money to third party service providers.
“The City is aware of service providers who offer to settle fines, renew licence discs and other traffic-related administration for a fee.
“However, it must be noted that these are not endorsed by the City’s traffic service and that motorists who make use of them do so at their own risk,” the City said.
Among the complaints they’ve received are that motorists pay the fines to the service provider, but the payments are not reflected on the national NaTiS system.
They also added it appears some motorists are lured into believing that the service provider is able to negotiate a reduced fine amount on their behalf, but the City stressed this is not the case.
The person to whom the fine is addressed has to make representations to the traffic service or at the municipal court, the City said.
Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith said: “With fine payment rates that are not ideal, we can ill afford to have those who want to do the right thing lose money in this manner.
“The complaints are concerning and are tantamount to fraud, so we encourage anyone who has experienced this to lay a criminal charge. We also appeal to the public to use the recognised traffic fine payment channels instead.
“We live in an age where online transactions have become commonplace, and while I understand that it might be tempting to go with a service that promises a hassle-free experience, please make sure that the service provider is above board.”
The public is reminded the City’s traffic fine payment channels are:
For more information about fine payments, go to https://www.capetown.gov.za/City-Connect/Pay/Driving-and-vehicles/Fines/Pay-your-traffic-fine
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