The San Diego Superior Court is warning residents of increasingly sophisticated and convincing scams involving counterfeit court documents designed to extract payments for fake fines or judgments.

The advisory, published on Sept. 16, highlights deceptive tactics where fraudsters impersonate court officials, using forged notices and high-pressure demands to exploit fears of legal consequences.

Scammers send notices mimicking official court orders, often claiming unpaid penalties or missed obligations, the court said. These messages can be sent via email, mail, phone call, or text and include fake case numbers and judicial signatures to appear legitimate.

In one case, the scammer provided a fraudulent arrest warrant to an individual, demanding immediate payment to clear it.

“People are getting documents in the mail which appear to be actual court documents or notices that people owe money because they owe a judgment or something like that,” Scott Pirrello, a deputy district attorney with the San Diego Elder Justice Task Force, told The Epoch Times on Sept. 17.

He noted that scammers also exploit justice system themes, including unpaid traffic tickets, red-light camera violations, toll road fees, or skipped jury duty, all demanding immediate payment to avoid penalties or arrest.

These messages often direct victims to fraudulent websites or request payments via gift cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrency, or even cash and gold pickups.

“They cast the net out very wide, especially with these text messages that all of us are getting right about the toll roads or maybe that we have an unpaid ticket,” Pirrello said.

He emphasized that scammers rely on a small percentage of recipients responding, banking on people’s fear to push them to send quick payments without verification.

“We are seeing an increase in actual in person, cash or gold pickups by couriers being sent to people’s houses, people that are sending large wire transfers, people that are using Bitcoin ATM machines to make these payments,” he said. “These are 1,000 percent scams.”

The perpetrators are highly organized, often involving transnational criminal organizations that operate overseas and rely on money laundering networks in California and around the United States, according to Pirrello.

The court clarified that it never demands cash or requests payments through unsolicited calls, texts, or emails. Official communications are sent via U.S. mail or secure e-filing systems for registered users, with payments processed only through banks or at court facilities.

Residents are urged to verify any notice by checking case details on sdcourt.ca.gov’s public case access portal, where legitimate documents include traceable identifiers.

Pirrello underscored the scams’ staggering impact, noting that the Elder Justice Task Force recorded over $130 million in losses over the last year in San Diego County alone.

“It’s an astonishing number, and the scammers are using so many different tactics that it is hard to keep up with them,” he said.

To combat these threats, Pirrello advised immediate action.

He recommended reporting incidents to local police or the FBI at ic3.gov. The court echoed this, directing residents to its public line at (619) 450-5700 or the San Diego Police Department’s fraud unit at (619) 531-2000.

“No one should ever pay anybody based on a phone call or a text message,” Pirrello said. “We want people to stop, we want them to hang up, and we want them to tell someone before they lose their life savings.”