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Nobody likes waiting in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles. But it could be worse. You could be scammed out of money by someone pretending to text you from the DMV.
There's a growing nationwide trend of cybercriminals trying to convince people that they owe the DMV money for a traffic violation via text. If you don't pay, they threaten to revoke your license or suspend your vehicle registration.
"There's usually some sort of urgent action required in order to avoid having your license cancelled," said Charlie Norman, the state registrar of motor vehicles at the Ohio Department of Public Safety. "We saw it recently [in a scam] on unpaid toll notices. Individuals are being urged to click on a link. It's a phishing attempt to get your personal information."
The rise in DMV scams isn't surprising to Allison Miller, founder of Cartomancy Labs, an advisory firm that works with cybersecurity and software development companies. Many DMVs that have gone digital and now text their customers important information, making it an easy target for scammers.
DMV scam texts have recently been sent to people in Indiana, Ohio, Maine and Texas -- but they can happen in any state. Make no mistake -- there is only one goal: To fill the pockets of your unfriendly neighborhood scammer.
What do DMV scam texts look like?
There are different types of DMV text scams, but they all share similarities. Above all, they'll try to create a sense of urgency to get you to respond before you can second-guess the text
"These texts follow the same pattern, the threatening tone, the abnormal sense of urgency to complete a task, so if you don't do this, then this happens," said Norman.
For instance, some DMV texts have been warning the recipients that if they don't pay their fine, their vehicle registration will soon be suspended, driving privileges will vanish for 30 days and many of the texts warn of a "transfer to a toll booth and charge a 35% service fee," which doesn't even make sense. Transfer to a toll booth?
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