Cecilia Allison was sitting and relaxing one evening recently when she got a text message, but not just any text. This text was apparently from the DMV asking her for personal information.
Not fooled, Cecilia did her due diligence and researched directly with the DMV and found that the text did NOT come from them. She let her I.T. department know at work and they got the word out to disregard any texts.
It’s called a phishing attack and it’s not all that uncommon. Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection’s Lara Sutherlin warns this can be a real danger.
“It contains a link, and that link takes you to a site where they’re either going to try to steal your money or your personal identifying information,” says Sutherlin.
It’s a very lucrative operation, once they collect the information, they can either sell it or use it themselves to take out credit and do all sorts of other things to your identity.
If you happen to fall victim to this scam, what can you do?
Sutherlin explains, “DATCP can help you with that. You can call us and one of our experts can help guide you through it. Give us a call at 1-800-422-7128. And you can also file a complaint at our website here.”
At the end of the day, we are the biggest line of defense against these kinds of attacks to our identity. And spreading the word to be more suspicious may just save you money and a ton of aggravation.