BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Kentuckians are getting text messages, claiming that if they don’t pay an outstanding traffic ticket, they could lose their license.
“It’s stupid. It’s silly. It’s deplorable,” Gavin Dawes of Bowling Green said.
Dawes is one of the numerous people who received the scam message.
“The funny thing is, I only recently got my license,” Dawes said. “So, before, I was like ‘I don’t have a license. What are you talking about, man?’”
While awaiting a package to come in the mail, Dawes was one of many victims who fell for a realistic-looking text that looked like it was from the United States Postal Service.
The message said he had to put in his information because of an undeliverable package.
“I didn’t even think twice about it,” Dawes said. “Then I was like, ‘Wait a second, that was a scam!’ So, I had to freeze my card. Thankfully, I didn’t lose anything from that.”
Ronnie Ward, the public information officer for the Bowling Green Police Department, said that he and his wife have been getting these scam texts as well. He said one way to check if a text is legitimate is by looking at the link in the text.
“If you look at the bottom, it says transporation.gov, which seems legit. But then, it’s got this dash and extra letters at the end. Those are indications there at the end of that, something is wrong with this link,” Ward said.
The text can also be copied and pasted into the google search to see if anybody else has gotten the same message. If they have, it’s probably a scam.
Dawes said if the text comes from a unique number, he ignores it.
“I don’t talk to anybody if their number isn’t already in my phone. That’s about it,” Dawes said.
Anyone who receives a suspicious text message about an outstanding ticket can also call their local Department of Motor Vehicles or police department to verify it.