The FBI confirms the new DMV text attacks
Republished on June 15 with new red flags for smartphones users to be wary.
Attacks on iPhone and Android users have increased by more than 700% this month, with malicious texts targeting several cities and states. Following the alerts of the police through the country, the FBI now confirmed the last warning and intervened. This threat comes directly from China, and you must delete all these texts immediately.
As I reported earlier this week, the infamous unpaid toll texts that have tormented US smartphones users for over a year “have recently experienced a significant drop. But the DMV texts that replaced them are “more threatening”. The attackers learned the lessons of their unpaid toll texts, and this attack will be more dangerous.
This is the warning of Tutelwhose researchers have been following these attacks for months. His team “spotted a 773% increase in DMV scam texts in the first week of June”, which shows no signs of slowdown. “These scam texts lead to phishing websites designed to steal people’s credit card information and make unauthorized costs.”
Now the The FBI confirmed that it was investigating The DMV scam. According to the special FBI Tennessee supervision agent David Palmer, unpaid cybercriminals “pivoted the DMV scam”. Confirming that gangs work from abroad, Palmer warns that these texts can “put malware on your phone, which can then enter and steal information from your device, or collect your payment information”.
Overlange on the DMV scam
Palmer warns users of smartphones “if you don’t know who [a text] IS, don’t click on the link. “These links use areas made to encourage users to think that they are legitimate. The format is generally the name of a state followed by a generic domain. Sometimes they include” .GOV “as part of the URL to make the website legitimate.”
There will be millions of these texts sent in the coming weeks and months. As Reduction warns: “Only one threat player can send” up to 2,000,000 smaming messages per day “, which means targeting” up to 60,000,000 victims per month, or 720,000,000 per year, enough to target each person in the United States at least twice a year. »»
“Chinese cybercrimin unions involved in the SMIRs,” warns reecurity, “are cheeky because they feel untouchable. They stressed in their communications according to which they do not care about the US law enforcement agencies. Residing in China, they enjoy total freedom of action and engage in many illegal activities. ”
DMV texts
As with unrelated packages and unpaid tolls, the FBI council is to “Remove all the purge texts received. “You don’t want dangerous links to leave on your phone, even if many are only active for a few hours before being detected and blocked.
This wave of false DMV texts prompted Senator Tina Smith “Press the Trump administration to stop the generalized scam of text messages affecting minnesotans,” just one of the many states now affected.
Smith says it is “beyond a simple nuisance” and “endangers the financial security of those he victims. And these messages threaten the peace of mind of thousands of minnesotans who are confronted with the uncertainty of knowing if these messages are authentic. This scale and the sophistication of this scam campaign call a federal response. ”
The Arizona Attorney General also issued a warning to citizens of the State. “Whatever agency they claim to represent, government impostors share a common set of strategies to steal your information and savings,” said Ag Kris Mayes. “Not only does the crook try to steal the money from consumers, but if you click on the link, they could get your personal information (such as the driving license number) – and even steal your identity.”
In the meantime, DMV of Oregon is the last to warn his pilots. “These messages do not come from Oregon DMV,” warns Chris Crabb of the DMV. “These are false messages designed to make you click on a link and provide personal information or send money.”
The new DMV attacks go beyond the late payment lure with the toll texts, these cite an offense to non-specific traffic and threaten the suspensions of driving and registration of vehicles. They create a feeling of panic and emergency to push users to engage.
Although the format of these DMV SCAM texts should make them easy to detect, tells are sometimes even easier to spot. Texts of the Philippines (1,,2) now target drivers in California and elsewhere, warning that of a “final opinion from the ministry of motor vehicles” and that “application measures” begin in a few hours. »»
These actions will include a suspension immediately suspended from the registration of the vehicle and “suspend driving privileges for 30 days”. Fortunately, this numbering code +63 is the simplest imaginable defect. Just like the higher level .Vip area if you are studying the link.
Meanwhile, the Ohio’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) has issued its own warning, showing An example of BMV scam text which comes from a +44 number in the United Kingdom. The BMV registrar of motor vehicles, Charlie Norman, warns “there are really revealing panels and red flags and these types of texts”.
“They all follow this same model in a way,” explains Norman. “There is a threatening tone, there is an abnormal sense of urgency to act, to do something, so if you do not do one, we will do B. It quotes a section of the revised code that does not exist. Often, if you look at this link that they want you to click on, it is an area that if you look closely, it is not the domain of the real website that they tell you.”
It could be even more false than questionable numbers and areas. In. Arizona, the very attack constitutes a whole government agency. Local media report that “several people in Arizona and other states have said they had received SMS this week that would be from a government department that does not exist. The scam texts claim to come from the “Ministry of Communications of Arizona”.
But just like with other text attacks, the advice is very simple. You don’t have to commit yourself in any way. Each of these texts is a scam. If you have any doubts, contact your DMV using public channels. You can report the text. But you must DELETE
As New York DMV Warn, the texts of the DMV scam “often include logos, images and copied content from the legitimate DMV website of New York State (or another website of the government of New York State) so that their fraudulent communication seems realistic. Remember that if the message does not feel well, it may be that it is not. ”
