COURT News:
ALBUQUERQUE — The United States District Court for the District of New Mexico has recently been notified of individuals being targeted in a court-related scam since Monday, June 1, 2026. The targets are receiving a text message from a number that begins with 212. The message provides notice of an alleged traffic citation with the “New Mexico District Court.” The notification provides the name of an issuing officer, assigned judge, clerk of court, and alleged case number. The recipient is advised that they must appear in court on a specific date (typically the day following the date the text message is received) and then threatened with the issuance of an arrest warrant, “without further warning,” for non-compliance.
The recipient is then provided a link to click to take immediate steps. The scammers may use the name of an actual judge within the State of New Mexico (including state court and federal court judges), the actual name of a local law enforcement officer, and the actual name of a staff member from a Court Clerk’s Office within the State of New Mexico.
The U.S. District Court does not handle traffic citations and will never send a notice to appear for court via text message. The U.S. District Court will also never ask for sensitive information in an unsolicited text message and will not assess a fine or penalty for failure to respond to a subpoena or for failure to appear in federal court, without first having the person appear before a judge.
It is a crime for anyone to falsely represent himself or herself as a federal court official and such an offense is taken very seriously by the federal judiciary. Persons receiving such a text message should not click on any links, should not respond to the message, and should not provide any information or pay any fines. Any person receiving such a text should report the incident to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at https://www.ic3.gov/ or through Federal Trade Commission’s fraud reporting website at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/.
In the District of New Mexico, the individual may also contact the U.S. District Court at 505.348.2000 to verify that there are no matters pending before the federal court in their name, or visit our website https://www.nmd.uscourts.gov/federal-court-related-scams to learn more about court-related scams.
Stay current with the United States Courts – District of New Mexico by visiting www.nmd.uscourts.gov.