{"id":287018,"date":"2026-04-24T14:00:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T18:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/?p=287018"},"modified":"2026-04-24T14:00:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T18:00:56","slug":"dmv-text-scam-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/dmv-text-scam-warning\/","title":{"rendered":"You Got a Text From the DMV But It’s Actually a Scam: Here’s What Not to Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

Officials across Alabama<\/strong> are warning people about a text message scam that\u2019s gotten so convincing it\u2019s clogged courthouse phone lines and left thousands of drivers panicked that they\u2019re about to lose their driver’s license<\/strong>. The whole scheme has one glaring hole: it name-drops a government agency that doesn\u2019t exist: the Alabama Department of Vehicles (DMV).<\/strong><\/p>\n

The texts come out of nowhere, often with the recipient\u2019s name right there in the message, threatening fast and serious consequences for an unpaid traffic ticket<\/strong> the person never even heard about. Suspension of your driving privileges. Damage to your credit. Legal action. A 35-day countdown clock.<\/p>\n

Alabama DMV? If you take a closer look, it all falls apart<\/h2>\n

The wording is cold and bureaucratic \u2014 exactly what you\u2019d expect from an official notice. Some versions even include an attachment that looks like a formal document with the state of Alabama seal and a header that says \u201cFinal Notice.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The agency name stamped on the notice is the \u201cAlabama Department of Vehicles<\/strong>,\u201d or sometimes just \u201cAlabama DMV<\/strong>.\u201d Neither one is real. In Alabama, driver licenses are handled by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency\u2019s Driver License Division \u2014 ALEA for short.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vehicle registration is done through the Alabama Department of Revenue. There is no DMV in this state<\/strong>. Scammers apparently grabbed a name most Americans recognize from other states and slapped it onto fake paperwork aimed at Alabamians.<\/p>\n

Different Versions of the “Alabama DMV” Scam<\/h2>\n

Some versions of the attached document carry a second mistake investigators flagged right away. It claims to come from the \u201cMunicipal Court of St. Louis County<\/strong>.\u201d There\u2019s no St. Louis County in Alabama.<\/p>\n

The address listed in the notice points to a location in Missouri.<\/strong> Investigators say mismatches like that are among the most obvious signs the document is fabricated, but the sheer urgency baked into the message makes a lot of people skip right past them.<\/p>\n

Officials in Shelby County<\/strong> dug into one of the links embedded in a version of the scam<\/strong> and traced it back to a domain registered to a company in China. The address had no connection to any Alabama government office or county authority.<\/p>\n

Warning: Don’t Click or Respond to the Scams<\/h2>\n

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency<\/strong> was one of the first to put out a public warning, and Secretary Hal Taylor didn\u2019t mince words. \u201cScammers are trying to create a false sense of urgency by threatening you and your driving privileges,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cWe urge all Alabamians to be cautious and remember that our Agency will never contact you this way.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

The Alabama Department of Revenue followed up with an equally blunt statement. \u201cALDOR does not enforce traffic laws or penalize people for unpaid tickets<\/strong>,\u201d they said. \u201cAlso be aware that an \u2018Alabama Department of Vehicles\u2019 does not actually exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fake Alers for Driver’s Licenses Holders<\/h2>\n

The Albertville Police Department took it a step further in a social media post that got shared a lot. \u201cThese notices are NOT legitimate,\u201d the department wrote. \u201cThey are designed to scare you into paying money or giving away personal information<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Tuscaloosa, the impact hit hard and fast. Jessica Steward, who runs the city\u2019s municipal court, said her office fielded more than 50 calls in a single day from residents who were convinced they had outstanding tickets<\/strong>. \u201cWe\u2019re getting a lot of calls now,\u201d Steward said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got over 50 calls yesterday for people thinking they had tickets in this court that are outstanding. Most are not, but with those text messages<\/strong> going out, it\u2019s very generic.\u201d She explained that the messages reference an Alabama code section but contain nothing tailored to the person at all \u2014 a classic sign of a mass phishing operation. \u201cIt references some Alabama code section, but it has no information for the individual,\u201d Steward added.<\/p>\n

DMV Scams Happening in Several States<\/h2>\n

The scam isn\u2019t just happening in Alabama. Investigators say the operation is national in scale<\/strong>. The messages adapt to whatever state the target lives in, swapping out the Alabama references for whatever jurisdiction fits. The mechanics stay identical. Only the branding changes.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement agencies across the board are giving the same advice. Don\u2019t click any link in an unsolicited text that claims to be from a government office. Don\u2019t call any numbers included in those messages<\/strong>. Don\u2019t hand over financial or personal details. If you get one of these texts, delete it, mark it as spam through your phone\u2019s messaging app, and file a report with the Federal Trade Commission or the Internet Crime Complaint Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Officials across Alabama are warning people about a text message scam that\u2019s gotten so convincing it\u2019s clogged courthouse phone lines and left thousands of drivers panicked that they\u2019re about to lose their driver’s license. The whole scheme has one glaring hole: it name-drops a government agency that doesn\u2019t exist: the Alabama Department of Vehicles (DMV). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":287019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"hide","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"custom","post_date_format_custom":"d\/m\/Y H:i","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"no-crop","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-715"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":"The message claims to be from an Alabama agency that has never existed and they want you to fall for it"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[57],"class_list":["post-287018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-united-states"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287018"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":287020,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287018\/revisions\/287020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}