Did you get scammed by one of these ultra-convincing fake DMV websites?
Spoofing is one of the latest tricks scammers have up their sleeves, and they’re getting seriously good at it.
Spoofed phone numbers and websites that look exactly like the real thing are tricking people all over the country. A recent example was so effective it even drew the attention of the FBI. Tap or click here to find out what sparked this FBI alert.
Now we’re learning about sham websites that are ripping tons of people off. A bunch of fake government websites claim they can provide services they can’t actually deliver. Have you been scammed by one of them?
Beware: Sham government sites everywhere
The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint a few months ago against a bunch of websites that were claiming to offer basic government services. They would charge for things like registering your car, applying for a fishing license or renewing your driver’s license.
The problem is, they don’t actually have the ability to follow through with those services.
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Once a customer enters their credit card information to pay for the services they believe are legitimate, the sites would provide documents that are already available to the public from official government websites.
The shady sites were also tricky with the names they used. They had web addresses like floridadriverslicense.org and texasdriverslicense.org.
The good news is the FTC was successful in its complaint and a federal judge has ordered the companies to stop making claims they can’t back up.
The court order said that while visiting these sites, customers “were not clearly informed that they could not obtain the government service they were misled to believe was available.”
This elaborate scheme seems to have started back in 2013 and more than 200 websites associated with it were created. A few companies behind the sketchy sites named in the FTC complaint include On Point, Dragon Global, Eagle Media, Skylar Media and many more.
Phone carriers finally join fight against robocalls
Let’s play a game. If you can read this entire article — read, not skim — without being interrupted by a robocall, you win. You don’t get an actual prize, mind you, the reward is simply the satisfaction of knowing you could make it all the way through without having your attention diverted by a rage-inducing robo-scammer.