Fine check
How to spot a fake fine: check the official portal, never the link
A traffic fine that arrives by email or text is always fake. The Dutch Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB) says it plainly: it never emails, texts or app-messages you about a fine, a reminder, arrears or a refund (CJIB). The police warn about the same messages: fake traffic fines and phishing emails, sometimes as a text or WhatsApp message (politie.nl).
The rule that breaks the pattern: you never check a fine through the message, but inside your own official portal or against the official account number.
Direct answer: five checks on a fine or payment request
- Log in to the official portal with DigiD. That is where you can see whether a fine is actually registered in your name. What is not in the official environment was not sent (CJIB).
- Check the account number. A fake fine does not carry the CJIB's account number. Compare the number in the message with the number published on cjib.nl before you transfer anything (politie.nl).
- Look at the envelope and the form. The CJIB sends fines by post in a recognisable envelope, and "if you received an email about an unpaid fine from the CJIB, it is always fake" (CJIB).
- Open no attachment and click nothing. The known fake email has a personal salutation, details of a speeding offence and a demand to pay within two days or face "collection measures". There is no link in it: the payment instructions sit in an attachment that may carry malware (Fraud Helpdesk).
- In doubt? Report it and pay nothing. Forward the fake email to the national fraud desk; if you paid or shared your account number, contact your bank immediately and file a police report (CJIB).
What a detector does and does not see
A fine or reminder is usually text, sometimes a photo of a letter or a screenshot. You can run the text through the text detector or a photo through the image detector. That is triage: it helps you decide which message to verify first. Phishing mail is often AI-written and can score low; a genuine scanned letter can pick up a signal from compression. The result says nothing about authenticity or the sender.
What the message cannot tell you
- whether a fine is actually registered in your name;
- whether the sender is the agency, even when the logo and address look right;
- whether the link leads to the official site — only the domain shows that;
- whether it is fraud; only a bank or an investigating authority can establish that.
Treat the message as a reason to check the official portal yourself, never as evidence that something is wrong with your records. More on judging this kind of message is in the guides on a fake tax authority message and a fake debt collection letter. To check the message on its own, use the free checker.
Frequently asked questions
I got an email that I must pay a fine. Is it real?
No. The CJIB sends fines by post only and never emails, texts or app-messages about a fine, reminder or arrears. Check the official portal with your digital ID to see whether anything is open.
Does a high detector score prove the fine is fake?
No. The score describes patterns in a text or a file and says nothing about the sender. A low score does not prove the message is genuine either; the official environment is the only source of truth.
May I forward or upload the fake email?
Forward it to the national fraud desk and then delete it. Upload only files you are permitted to use and that contain no other people's personal data.