Traffic Camera Scams on the Rise

The Wenatchee Police Department is highlighting traffic violation scams after a member of the Chelan County Sheriff's Office got an email Tuesday saying they had committed a violation via a red light camera and now must pay up within 72 hours.

Captain Edgar Reinfeld said that although the department does have red light cameras, it does not have any kind of automated traffic enforcement.

"When you get a violation through the red light camera the contractor looks at it, says it's a probable violation, it gets sent here to the Wenatchee Police Department and an officer reviews it to determine if it's a violation or no violation." said Reinfeld, "Only if there is a violation do you get a piece of actual physical mail sent to the address registered with the vehicle."

Reinfeld advises just deleting any suspicious emails.

You can report a scam to Rivercom or the Wenatchee Police Department Facebook page, although these scams are usually perpetrated by foreign criminals who are rarely brought to justice.