What happened
Newswire (Sri Lanka) reported on 9 November 2026 that the Ministry of Digital Economy warned the public about fraudulent text messages and iMessage notifications claiming to be from Sri Lanka Police and demanding payment of speeding fines through fake GovPay links. Deputy Minister Eranga Weeraratne said neither the Ministry nor any government institution has sent such notifications through the official GovPay platform, and named lygov.art as an example of a fraudulent domain. Sri Lanka Police and GovPay are impersonated and are not involved.
How the scam works
According to the warning, the scam tries to obtain personal information and bank account details by getting people to click payment links. Speeding-fine texts create urgency because people fear unpaid tickets will grow or lead to licence problems, and using the police name plus a GovPay-style payment page makes the message look official.
Fake fine pages typically ask for a national ID number, card details or a bank login to "pay" the ticket. Once those details are entered, the money goes to the criminals and the identity information can be reused. The domain lygov.art is not a gov.lk address; real Sri Lankan government sites use the gov.lk domain.
The public was advised not to respond to the messages or click links, and to use only official gov.lk websites. Anyone who entered card or banking details should contact their bank at once, and anyone who shared personal data should watch for further fraud. Report the message to Sri Lanka Police cybercrime channels.
Source
Newswire (Sri Lanka) report, 9 November 2026: https://www.newswire.lk/2026/11/09/police-speeding-fine-sms-govt-issues-urgent-scam-warning/
