BATON ROUGE — Another text message scam that aims to steal personal information and charge unnecessary fees surfaced, Louisiana State Police and the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles warned in a news release Friday.

Many Louisiana residents have received a text message claiming they have an "outstanding traffic ticket" and requires them to pay a fee or face repercussions, according to the news release.

LSP and the OMV said these messages are fraudulent and warn anyone who receives them not to click any links or send any payment. Recipients of these messages are urged to simply ignore and delete them. 

The OMV said they do not send text messages or emails threatening prosecution for traffic or fee violations. Louisiana residents can visit the official OMV website for legitimate online services.

The OMV offers the following tips to avoid scams:
- DO NOT click on links in an unsolicited message from an unverified source
- DO NOT respond or send your personal information via text
- Delete all suspicious texts and emails, and report them to reportfraud.ftc.gov
- Exercise caution with all communications you receive from anonymous sources
- Confirm the message was generated from a legitimate source
- Keep an eye out for signs of scams (rewards, vague URLs, incorrect grammar)