Father who thought parking fine text was a scam angry at Ministry of Justice warnings

An Auckland father of three is angry the Ministry of Justice threatened his pregnant wife with arrest over a parking fine.

Matt Ward says they dismissed a text from the ministry in March, thinking it was a scam because it contained a payment link, only to receive the threat of arrest in a follow-up text last month.

"It's gone... zero to a hundred with a couple of text messages saying we're going to arrest you, which is just ridiculous," he told RNZ.

Auckland Transport (AT) said it mailed the infringement notice but Ward said they never received it - their neighbourhood has no mail delivery.

AT said it wished it had other options beyond mail.

"We would be in favour of updates to NZTA's system so emails or phone numbers can be included with vehicle registration details."

The Ministry of Justice Ministry said the texts it sent Ward were legitimate. It was still putting a payment link in texts in March, but dropped them in April.

"Since this text was received [by Ward], links have been removed from text messages to help the public differentiate between legitimate and scam texts," said the ministry.

Ward said the whole thing was bizarre and heavy-handed, with a system that appeared to be broken.

They complained last month and have been told the infringement had been removed from the courts.

'So many ads and warnings about links'

Ward said there was no ticket on the windscreen of his wife's car when he got back after parking it in central Auckland in September.

Parking wardens still leave tickets, but the council's number-plate-identifying patrol cars do not. AT sends out letters.

Six months later, on 17 March, his wife - who did not want to be identified - received a text saying a fine was due in seven days.

It gave an 0800 number and said "or click here to pay online" with a link, but they were suspicious.

"There's so many ads and warnings out there about links, and not clicking on links," said Ward.

She received a second text from a district court deputy registrar on 6 July saying: "I have noticed that you have not kept your arrangement to pay your fines. I am now considering issuing a warrant to arrest."

His wife was three days away from having a baby when she got the text.

"It came as a massive shock," said Ward.

"Surely the threat of arrest is more of a phone-call conversation rather than sending a casual text message."

He defended not calling the ministry to query the text in March

"Why would the Ministry of Justice be getting in touch when you hadn't even heard from Auckland Transport or a debt collection agency?"

The fine was sitting at $208 when they got the second text.

Ward said he then called the ministry only to be told there was a fine. He has disputed it and laid a complaint.

"The systems are a little bit broken if this is what happens," he said.

'Paper-based processes'

Multiple agencies - including NZTA and police - have warned that texts with payment links are not from them and are a scam.

A justice ministry online post from 24 March listed three things a legitimate text will have - but a payment link is not one of them. But it told RNZ: "Fines-related text messages included links until 30 March 2026."

It said in a statement it would keep on reviewing and updating its information to "reflect the evolving environment".

"The ministry is aware that scam text messages continue to circulate from time to time," it said.

"We continue to monitor the situation and provide the public with information to help them identify genuine contact for the court."

Auckland Transport said the system could be better.

"The letter was sent to the person and address that the vehicle is registered to in the NZTA database. This is the only way we are able to correspond, based on NZTA's paper-based processes.

"We would be in favour of updates to this system so emails or phone numbers can be included with vehicle registration details and letters such as this are not discarded when they are delivered addressed to a different person."

Ward said they had a mailing address separate from their physical address, but did not receive an infringement letter there.

"If we initially got a notice on the windshield about it, I would have paid it straight away and that would have been that," he said.