MILWAUKEE — The Wisconsin Department of Transportation's Division of Motor Vehicles is warning drivers of a new scam circulating across the state, trying to acquire personal information.
The DMV describes this scam as a “smishing” (SMS phishing). Drivers receive a text message impersonating the DMV with a link. After clicking on the link, the message directs the individual to a spoofed DMV website where they will be prompted to enter their identifying information or documents.
"One of the DMV's most important responsibilities is guarding your personal information, and so we do take that very seriously. But if that information gets into the wrong hands, obviously, it can be used for a number of things," said DMV Administrator Kristina Boardman.
Boardmen said things to watch out for in the text messages: spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and a website link that doesn't have '.gov'.
Now that nearly all DMV transactions can be done completely online, start at wisconsindmv.gov to ensure it’s the official state government site. For-profit companies with .com or .org may acquire personal information and add additional charges for services that are free at wisconsindmv.gov.
Wisconsin DMV customers can also directly access information and manage their search with these custom URLs:
· Status check: wisconsindmv.gov/status
· Opt-out of releasing information as required by law: wisconsindmv.gov/opt-out
· Request your record: wisconsindmv.gov/ownrecord
· Renew driver license online: wisconsindmv.gov/renewDL
· Renew license plates online:wisconsindmv.gov/renew
