How Do I Know If A Traffic Fine In Spain Is Fake?

Scammers copy official paperwork because it works, and they do not rely only on the internet.

In December 2022, cars in the Carabanchel area of Madrid had fake penalty notices placed on their windscreens, and Madrid City Council put out this warning:

"ALERTA.DENUNCIAS FALSAS"

Hemos detectado un fraude consistente en fotocopias que simulan ser multas de tráfico colocadas en los parabrisas de algunos vehículos de la capital.

En este link informamos de las claves para evitarlo: T: PldET8R6 pic.twitter.com/T5b8h019KF

— Ayuntamiento Madrid (@MADRID) December 10, 2022

The same trick has since moved to phones. On 28 September 2026 INCIBE, Spain’s national cybersecurity institute, warned of a new wave of text messages and emails that pretend to come from the DGT, mention an unpaid fine and send you to a copy of its website that asks for your name, number plate and bank card details. The DGT’s own wording is: "La DGT NUNCA notifica sus multas a través de correo electrónico" (the DGT never notifies its fines by email). It adds that it only communicates fines by post and through its electronic postbox, and that no DGT fine notice contains QR codes or links to websites for making the payment.

A real fine is halved if you pay it within 20 calendar days, so many people panic and pay as quickly as possible. Scammers take advantage of this by inventing short deadlines and surcharges, making victims rush into scanning QR codes or entering bank details online.

The City Council warned drivers not to pay the fine or scan the QR code placed on the tickets.

How a real traffic fine reaches you

The traffic law (articles 89 to 91) and the DGT give four routes, and no others:

• Handed to you at the roadside. The general rule is that the officer who stops you gives you the written notice (boletín de denuncia) there and then. A driver who cannot show that they live legally in Spain, such as a tourist in a hire car, pays the amount to the officer as a deposit, by card or in cash in euros, and still receives the paper. Our guide to the police in Spain explains roadside fines.
  
  
• By post. If you were not stopped, for example with a speed camera, the notice is posted to the address the DGT holds for the vehicle’s keeper. If nobody is in, the postman tries a second time.
  
  
• In your electronic postbox. If you have signed up for the Dirección Electrónica Vial (DEV), the notice goes there in place of the post.
  
  
• On the official notice board. If the notice cannot be delivered, it is published on the Tablón Edictal Único (TEU) of the State gazette, the BOE, and counts as notified 20 calendar days later.

Town halls issue their own fines, mostly for parking, under the same law. It says that when a car is parked and the driver is not there, the notice is sent afterwards. So a paper under the wiper is never, on its own, something to pay from: check with the town hall named on it, using contact details you have found yourself.

If you receive a suspicious ticket:

• Never scan QR codes left on your windscreen.
  
  
• Never enter personal or banking data into unofficial sites, SMS, or email links about fines.
  
  
• If you have already paid or typed in your card details, contact your bank at once to block the card, even before any charge appears, and report it to the Policía Nacional or the Guardia Civil: our guide to filing a denuncia explains how. INCIBE’s cybersecurity helpline can also advise you.
  
  
• Keep the physical ticket or screenshot as evidence if needed.

Knowing whether a traffic fine is legitimate or just a ploy to get you to part with your money will mean that you are well-armed and not prone to be easily scammed. Read each notification carefully, check official details and reference numbers, and verify via DGT or local council before reacting.

Tips to recognise a fake penalty notice

Below we cover the things a legitimate traffic fine should contain and of which are included in article 87 of the traffic law.

• A paper on your windscreen is never the formal notice. Unless an officer hands you the notice in person, it comes by post, in your DEV electronic postbox, or on the official notice board if it could not be delivered.
  
  
• The DGT states that none of its fine notices contains QR codes or links to payment websites.
  
  
• Penalty notices will always include the identity of the vehicle that caused the infringement.
  
  
• The identity of the driver will be used if known.
  
  
• There will be a brief description of the infringement including the place, date, and time it occurred.
  
  
• The name, address, and details of those issuing the penalty, including the identification number of the officer.

Typical red flags are a sender or web address that is not the DGT’s own, pressure to pay within hours, no vehicle registration or file number, and a request for card details on a page you reached through a link. Any one of these means you should stop and check.

Note that fines can come in different formats and will depend on the infraction and the department that issues it. For example, an administrative or parking infraction is not the same as a sanction issued by the DGT.

However, despite these differences, the following is data you would expect to see contained in such fines.

• The penalty fine reference number that identifies the infraction.
  
  
• Driver data including licence plate and make and model of vehicle.
  
  
• Place, date, and time of the violation.
  
  
• Amount to pay.
  
  
• Details of which article of the General Traffic Regulations has been violated.
  
  
• Loss of points if applicable.
  
  
• Photo of the vehicle if taken by a speeding camera.

How to appeal a real fine
You have 20 calendar days from notification to contest a real fine, and contesting it means giving up the 50% reduction for paying early. Our guide on how to appeal a traffic fine in Spain has the steps.

Where to check for any outstanding penalty notices

So now you know that a paper left on your windscreen, a text message or an email is never how a real fine is notified, whether it comes from a town hall or from the DGT.

So what’s the best way to check for any outstanding fines?

The most reliable method is the DGT’s electronic office, the sede electrónica, reached by typing sede.dgt.gob.es yourself and never through a link in a message. Its page "Consulta de sanciones publicadas en el tablón edictal del BOE (TEU)" lets you search for fines that could not be delivered, without a digital certificate or with Cl@ve, the Spanish electronic identification. For a parking fine or any other town hall fine, ask the town hall named on the notice. You can also register with DEV so that you are notified if a fine is issued. This is particularly important if you move home often and forget to update your contact details with the DGT, which is one of the Spanish traffic laws many drivers do not know.

To find out how to update your details with the DGT and other government agencies visit our page - How to easily change your address with the Spanish authorities.

• DGT notice board search (Consulta de sanciones publicadas en el tablón edictal del BOE) - The DGT’s own search of traffic fines published on the board. Older guides call the DGT board TESTRA; the DGT’s electronic office now sends you to the BOE board.
• TEU (Tablón Edictal Único del BOE) - The single notice board of the BOE, the State gazette, where every public body, the DGT and town halls included, publishes notices it could not deliver. A fine published there counts as notified 20 calendar days later.
• DEV (Electronic Road Address System) - DEV is the official electronic postbox for traffic notices. It is voluntary for individuals and compulsory for companies, which have received no paper fines by post since 1 November 2022. When a new notice arrives the DGT sends an alert by email and text message, and this is the only genuine text or email the DGT sends about a fine: it tells you to sign in to the postbox with your electronic identification and never asks for payment or card details. A notice you do not open within ten calendar days is treated as refused and the case carries on.

Further details on all of these services can be found in the fines section of the DGT’s electronic office.

To pay a real fine, use only the channels the DGT lists: its own payment page, its telephone payment line, a CaixaBank branch or a post office. Our guide to paying traffic fines in Spain covers each one.

Hire cars and cars registered abroad

If you were not stopped, the notice goes to the vehicle’s keeper. With a hire car that is the hire company, which the law obliges to name the driver, so the genuine notice follows on paper, by post. For a car registered in the United Kingdom, an agreement between Spain and the UK, applied in full since 21 June 2023, lets the DGT ask the DVLA for the keeper’s name and address for eight road safety offences, among them speeding, jumping a red light, drink or drug driving, using a mobile phone and not wearing a seat belt. The letter to the keeper must be written in English and must state the offence, the place, date and time, the law broken and the penalty. In both cases the real notice is a letter, never a text message or an email with a payment link.

It also helps to know what the rules actually are: see our summary of the new traffic rules in Spain.

Bottom line:
If in doubt, do not pay from the paper or the message, never scan a QR code, never pay via a printed web link, and always check using official channels or contact your local police or town hall directly.

Stay safe on and off the road.

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