South African motorists have been cautioned against paying traffic fines online through third-party websites, as these platforms may provide false or misleading information. The warning comes from criminal defence attorney William Booth, who spoke to Cape Talk about the growing risks associated with using unverified online fine payment services.
Booth highlighted that one of the biggest issues surrounding these platforms is the legitimacy and accuracy of the information they provide. “The problem these days is that we receive notifications from all kinds of sources, and most of them are bogus,” he said. “Even when a site looks legitimate, the details may still be incorrect or falsified.”
He added that many third-party sites encourage motorists to pay fines as quickly as possible because they earn commissions from each transaction. “They may even charge a higher fine than what you actually owe,” Booth warned. “Motorists need to be very careful, or they could end up paying money they don’t have to.”
Rising Cases of Online Fraud and Phishing Scams
Booth also noted that scams targeting motorists are on the rise, with criminals impersonating legitimate platforms to steal personal information and money. A major example came in August 2025, when PayCity a trusted traffic fine payment platform alerted users to phishing scams using fake links that imitated its branding.
“We have been made aware of several phishing scams where fraudsters send fake traffic fine notification messages pretending to impersonate PayCity,” the company said. “These messages may include fraudulent payment links from domains that are not associated with PayCity.”
PayCity urged motorists to only use payment links from its official website (paycity.co.za) and to be wary of any suspicious messages claiming to come from the platform.
New Traffic Laws and the Aarto Rollout
Meanwhile, the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) has been updating South Africans on the rollout of the new Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act, which aims to improve the handling of traffic violations.
The first phase of the Aarto system will begin on 1 December 2025 across 69 municipalities, expanding to 144 more on 1 April 2026. By 1 September 2026, the demerit point system will officially take effect.
Under the new system, motorists will receive demerit points for each traffic infringement. Accumulating 15 points could lead to a nine-month licence suspension, and repeated offenders may face permanent revocation of their driving licence.
Those issued with an infringement notice will have 32 days to respond. Paying within this period earns a 50% discount on the fine. Failure to pay leads to a courtesy letter, followed by an enforcement order if payment is still not made. While an enforcement order is active, motorists will be barred from renewing their driver’s licence or vehicle licence disk until the matter is resolved.
Verify Before You Pay Traffic Fines Online
With scams becoming increasingly sophisticated, motorists are urged to verify all traffic fine notifications before making any payments. Using official government or municipal websites, or confirmed partners like PayCity (through its verified domain), is the safest option.
As Booth warned, “The message is to be careful what looks like a simple fine payment could end up costing you much more.”
Related article: Fake Traffic Fines Increase Ahead of AARTO Rollout – SA Motorists Warned
