Are Chinese Behind Tidal Wave of Fake DMV Scam Texts in US?

Have you gotten a text from someone or an entity claiming to be with the WA, OR or Idaho DMV?  It's likely a scam.

 FBI says Chinese operatives are behind the sweeping fraud

According to multiple sources, the FBI says Chinese criminal gangs are behind a sweeping wave of fake texts, designed to defraud American drivers.

Officials say this year these text crimes are up 700 percent, they're called "smishing" and designed to fool people into paying fake fines to their state's DMV.  At the same time besides paying a fake fine, the victims often have their credit card numbers stolen.

According to sources, the FBI says the scammers threaten users into thinking their licenses will be revoked, of will even face jail time and they get them to click on dangerous links in the messages.

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So far, the largest numbers of reports have come from Tennessee, New York, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Texas, and Washington, DC, but drivers coast to coast have been contacted.

According to Rebel News:

"According to cybersecurity investigators, these attacks aren’t random or isolated incidents but part of a coordinated campaign run by organized Chinese criminal networks."

Clicking on links can install malware on your phone, which gives the scammers the ability to potentially access any sensitive activity you conduct on your device--including online banking, insurance, and other tasks.

Rebel News went on to say:

"The scale of these operations is alarming. In April alone, Americans received an estimated 19.2 billion spam texts, averaging 63 spam messages per person."

Officials, like with other scams, stress that NO state will ever utilize texting or SMS efforts via the DMV or other agencies to get you to pay fines, or accuse you of wrongdoing.  If you get a suspicious text, report it to the FBI Internet Complaint Center, and register your phone with the safe, national Do Not Call registry.

And of course, NEVER click on anything suspicious, better yet, don't even open any suspicious text or other message.