Monday, June 16, 2025

FBI Warns of DMV Fine Scam

The New York Post reports "FBI issues urgent warning to 150M iPhone users: Delete this text as soon as you get it." The article relates:

    Here’s how the scammers trap unsuspecting iPhone users in their web — by posing as the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) of different states.

    The messages look like they could be legit, telling people that if they don’t pay an unpaid toll or fine, they might be subjected to having their driving privileges revoked or possible jail time.

    The text includes a link and instructs people to reply to the message then open the link.

    But officials warn that all of this is just someone trying to steal your personal data — and urged users not to click the link and rather immediately delete the text.

    These kinds of texts can “put malware on your phone, which then can go in and steal information from your device, or collect your payment information,” FBI Tennessee’s Supervisory Special Agent David Palmer said in a statement.  

6 comments:

  1. I've been getting those text message for months. It really makes me angry that scammers have made cell phones almost useless. I delete most of the text messages I get. I rarely answer a call because most calls are from scammers/spammers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've received a couple of this particular scam. Fortunately they were easy to spot as fakes as they referred to EZ Pass (which Idaho doesn't have since there are no toll roads) or had other glaring errors. But I could see them being quite effective in some states.

      Delete
  2. I've gotten so many scam emails and texts that at this point, I don't even click the links in legit looking bank and government emails. I just go to the appropriate website and see if it corroborates anything in the message.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And phone calls. A few months back I got a call from a guy purporting to be with my bank to confirm suspicious charges on a credit card. He had enough information to sound legit and the caller ID identified him as calling from my bank, but I put him off and then called the 800 number on the back of the card and discovered that there was nothing of the sort and they didn't know who was the guy. I still had them cancel the card and send a new one.

      Delete

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