As trends come and go in the digital world, hackers and scammers adapt their strategies so they can better exploit what's hot right now. So, right now, scammers are exploiting people with expired driving licenses, and while that may sound weird at first, there's an excellent reason why they're doing this.
So how can fraudsters scam people with expired driver's licenses? And how can you protect yourself?
Why Are Scammers Targeting Expired Driver's Licenses?
The United States is in a unique position. During the Coronavirus pandemic, many states across America put a pause on driving license renewals. This new scheme meant that people with expired driver's licenses were given a temporary pardon during this period, given how hard it was to get them renewed at the time.
However, as more of the poulation get vaccinated or gain natural immunity, states are beginning to lift this exception. That means many people with expired licenses will soon be unable to drive on the road again. In turn, this creates a wave of panicked renewals for driver's licenses, and where there's panic, scammers are close behind.
In fact, the global pandemic has been an excellent source of fear for scammers. There have been so many COVID-19 related scams as of late, all of which use the confusion and anxiety around the virus to trick the user into giving the scammer what they want.
How Scammers Trick People With Expired Driver's Licenses
Scammers usually rely on emotion to spur their victims into action, and this time around, they're using fear as the main attack vector. When someone is worried, they're more likely to click on links and obey instructions, which is exactly what the scammer wants.
To achieve this initial level of worry, the scammer will send you an email or text message, claiming that something has gone wrong with your license. For instance, they may claim it has expired, or that information on it is either missing or requires changes. In addition, they may sprinkle in threats to encourage you to click a link in the correspondence.
The link may lead to a Google Forms spreadsheet, which then asks for your personal information. This form includes fields for sensitive data, such as your social security number and date of birth. If you surrender them, the scammer then has enough information to perform identity fraud.
As reported by GCN, the emails and texts "feel real", so much so that the scam message "looks like it comes from the DMV." As such, it's very easy for someone to believe that the DMV has contacted them about their driving license.
You can see examples of these scams on the New York DMV website. Interestingly, the website shows a few examples that don't use fear as the main attack vector. Instead, the scammers declare that the victim can claim a large sum of money for keeping their license clean, hoping that the excitement will get people to click the link.
How to Protect Yourself From the Driver's License Scam
There's a lot you can do to protect yourself from this kind of scam, such as double-checking the sender's email address, confirming the correspondence with the company itself, and backing out if something feels suspicious.
However, there's an effortless way to defeat this specific scam: if you get an email or a text claiming to be the DMV, it's not them.
How come? A spokesperson from the Illinois secretary of state’s office, David Druker, said:
“We do not communicate with people about personal information through text or email. We send formal letters from our office.”
As such, if the DMV gets in contact with you, and it's not via a letter, then it's likely a scam. If you have doubts, try contacting the DMV and double-check to see if the email or text is legitimate.
Protect Yourself From This New Scam Drive
Expired driver's licenses may sound like an odd point of attack for scammers, but there are plenty of ways they can manipulate people into surrendering their details. Fortunately, 99 percent of the effort needed to protect yourself from this attack is simply knowing that it exists. So now you're ready to protect yourself.