Northwest Iowa — It used to be that scammers would call you over the phone or send you a scam in the mail. While those things haven’t gone away completely, many new scams use modern technology to separate you from your hard-earned money.
Texting is a technology that’s a little over 25 years old, but compared to the mail, it’s pretty new. And scammers use texting a lot. In the last week, law enforcement officers have alerted the public to at least two new scams received via text message.
The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office has highlighted a scam that the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) originally alerted people about, in which the scammer tells the recipient that the recipient has an unpaid traffic ticket. It goes on to say, “DMV records show that you still have an unpaid traffic ticket as of today. According to Iowa Traffic Code 321.210A, if you do not pay the ticket by 4:30 p.m. on (date), the following actions will be taken: 1. Indefinite Suspension of Driving Privileges…”
The sheriff’s office says you won’t ever get text messages from the Iowa DOT asking for financial information. The DOT says do not click on any links or provide any credit card information, and remember to report unwanted text messages by forwarding them to 7726, which spells out SPAM.
Meanwhile, the O’Brien County Sheriff’s Office is warning people of a different scam. This one also comes via text message and is sent to “Amazon Customer.”
The scammer says that a product from a recent order has failed a recent safety assessment and is now part of an official recall. It asks the victim to request a refund by clicking on a link. Officials remind you to never click on a link sent to you from someone or some organization that you can’t verify. If you think it might be legitimate, go to their website by typing the address in the address bar and view your account information there. Links can take you places you don’t expect, and they can do everything from mining your personal data to installing a malicious virus.
KIWA Staff Graphic
