State links go nowhere near Louisiana — residents warned not to click, not to pay

March 18, 2026

West Baton Rouge Parish residents are receiving fraudulent text messages impersonating the Louisiana Department of Motor Vehicles, warning of imminent license suspensions and demanding payment through a link that has no connection to any official state website.

WBR Independent received a copy of the message Tuesday after a community member raised the alarm, noting that multiple parish residents had reported receiving the same text.

The message, which claims to be a "Final Notice: Outstanding Traffic Citation," instructs recipients to pay through a link at org.com-errt.top/pay by March 19, 2026, or face a series of consequences including entry of the violation into DMV records, suspension of vehicle registration, a 30-day suspension of their driver's license, referral to collections, and potential legal action affecting their credit.

The domain used in the message — org.com-errt.top — is not affiliated with the State of Louisiana. The text was sent from +63 948 448 8623, a number traced to the Philippines — not a Louisiana state agency. Legitimate government communications from Louisiana agencies do not originate from overseas phone numbers. The official Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles conducts business through state-issued domains ending in .la.gov or through the state's official expresslane.org portal. Anyone who has received this message should not click the link, should not reply, and should not submit any payment.

The community member who flagged the message expressed particular concern for elderly residents, who may be more vulnerable to the high-pressure tactics used in the text.

What to do if you received this message:

Do not click any links or reply to the message. Do not submit any payment. Report the message to the Louisiana Attorney General's Consumer Protection Section at 1-800-351-4889 or online at AGLizMurrill.com. Report it to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. You may also forward the text to 7726 (SPAM) to report it to your carrier.

If you believe you may have already clicked the link or submitted payment information, contact your bank or card issuer immediately and consider placing a fraud alert with the major credit bureaus.

WBR Independent is the parish's independent accountability news outlet. Tips and story leads can be sent to editor@wbrindependent.com.