Rhode Island DMV warns of surge in fraudulent text messages
Get Rhode Map
A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State.
Enter Email
Sign Up
'Enforcement Penalties Begin on May 30,' the message reads. 'Our records indicate that you currently have an unpaid traffic violation… Please pay immediately before enforcement to avoid license suspension and further legal disputes…'
According to the DMV, the messages cite 'fictitious legal code and link to fraudulent websites.' The agency said it does not send requests for payments or threats through text messages – the DMV sends information through the US Mail – and emphasized the public should not click on any suspicious links, as doing so could expose 'individuals to identify theft, malware, or financial fraud.'
'Scammers are continually preying on people's fears to manipulate them into revealing personal and financial information,' DMV Administrator Walter R. Craddock said in a statement. 'We encourage all Rhode Islanders to stay alert and verify their driving privileges only through reliable, official sources.'
Advertisement
Officials said fraudulent messages can be reported to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at
'Rhode Island residents who have concerns about their DMV records should utilize our Online DMV Customer Portal at
Christopher Gavin can be reached at
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
2 days ago
- CBS News
New text scam in Colorado pretends to be DMV employee, alleges unpaid tickets
A new type of scam text message looks like it's coming from the Colorado DMV. But the goal of all scammers is the same -- separating you from your money. Lakewood resident Lauren Perrin almost got hit with it before asking her father to take a look at the message. It saved her from potentially clicking a bad link or sending money somewhere. "I had to ask two people, and the verbiage was very formal," Perrin told CBS Colorado. "It definitely fit the way that it would be sent if someone here said this." The texts have ended up everywhere, even in our CBS Colorado newsroom, where many of our coworkers have received the scam. The DMV says the texts have started to become more prevalent lately. When a person receives the text, it says they have overdue tickets to be paid, and, if they do not do so soon, there may be more penalties. "I think my text said I had one day to get all the tickets I never paid," Perrin joked. "But it came from a random number. It wasn't like 1-800. I actually asked my Dad and he said forget about it" In a statement to CBS Colorado, the DMV suggests not clicking any links to a suspicious text, not sharing any personal information or replying to the message at all. Those that responded to our question on the CBS Colorado Facebook page said they largely received and deleted them. If you have been affected by a scam text, the DMV suggests changing your passwords, contacting your bank or financial institution, consider a fraud alert and staying generally vigilant. Perrin now has a trained eye as well as a unique strategy for sussing out scammers going forward. "They're probably using ChatGPT or AI to make these texts, so I would run it through there to see if it was," Perrin said. "And just ask your friends."
Politico
6 days ago
- Politico
The ‘dual-edged sword' of AI chatbots
With help from Maggie Miller Driving the day — As large language models become increasingly popular, the security community and foreign adversaries are constantly looking for ways to skirt safety guardrails — but for very different reasons. HAPPY MONDAY, and welcome to MORNING CYBERSECURITY! In between the DMV's sporadic rain this weekend, I managed to get a pretty gnarly sunburn at a winery. I'll be spending the rest of the summer working to fix the unflattering tan lines. Follow POLITICO's cybersecurity team on X at @RosiePerper, @johnnysaks130, @delizanickel and @magmill95, or reach out via email or text for tips. You can also follow @POLITICOPro on X. Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories. Today's Agenda The House meets for morning hour debate and 2 p.m. to consider legislation under suspension of the rules: H.R. 1770 (119), the 'Consumer Safety Technology Act"; H.R. 1766 (119), the 'NTIA Policy and Cybersecurity Coordination Act"; and more. 12 p.m. Artificial Intelligence SKIRTING GUARDRAILS — As the popularity of generative artificial intelligence systems like large language models rises, the security community is working to discover weaknesses in order to boost their safety and accuracy. But as research continues identifying ways bad actors can override a model's built-in guardrails — also known as 'jailbreaking' — to improve safeguards, foreign adversaries are taking advantage of vulnerabilities in LLMs to pump out misinformation. 'It's extremely easy to jailbreak a model,' Chris Thompson, global head of IBM's X-Force Red Adversary Simulation team, told your host. 'There's lots of techniques for jailbreaking models that work, regardless of system prompts and the guardrails in place.' — Jailbreaking: Popular LLMs like Google's Gemini, OpenAI's ChatGPT and Meta's Llama have guardrails in place to stop them from answering certain questions, like how to build a bomb. But hackers can jailbreak LLMs by asking questions in a way that bypasses those protections. Last month, a team from Intel, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Boise State University published research that found AI chatbots like Gemini and ChatGPT can be tricked into teaching users how to conduct a ransomware attack on an ATM. The research team used an attack method called 'InfoFlood,' which pumps the LLM with dense language, including academic jargon and fake citations, to disguise the malicious queries while still getting the questions answered. According to Advait Yadav, one of the researchers, it was a simple yet successful idea. 'It was a very simple test,' Yadav told your host. 'We asked, what if we buried … a really harmful statement with very dense, linguistic language, and the success rate was really high.' Spokespeople for Google and OpenAI noted to your host that the report focuses on older LLM models. A spokesperson for OpenAI told MC in a statement that the firm takes steps 'to reduce the risk of malicious use, and we're continually improving safeguards to make our models more robust against exploits like jailbreaks.' — Disinfo mission: And as university researchers find ways to sneak past these guardrails, foreign adversaries are, too. Rival powers like Russia have long exploited AI bots to push their agenda by spreading false information. In May 2024, OpenAI detailed how operations from Russia are using its software to push out false and misleading information about a variety of topics — including the war in Ukraine. 'These models are built to be conversational and responsive, and these qualities are what make them easy for adversaries to exploit with little effort,' said McKenzie Sadeghi, AI and foreign influence editor at the misinformation tracker NewsGuard. NewsGuard's monthly audits of leading AI models have repeatedly found that chatbots will generate false claims around state narratives from Russia, China and Iran with little resistance. 'When foreign adversaries succeed in manipulating these systems, they're reshaping the informational landscape that citizens, policymakers and journalists rely on to make decisions,' she added. — Boosting safeguards: As actors linked to foreign adversaries utilize the chatbots, the security community says they are working to keep up. 'The goal of jailbreaks is to inform modelmakers on vulnerabilities and how they can be improved,' Yadav told your host, adding that the research team plans to send a courtesy disclosure package to the model-making companies in the study. For Google's Gemini App, the firm runs red-teaming exercises to train models to defend against attacks, according to Elijah Lawal, the global communications manager for the Gemini App. 'This isn't just malicious threat actors using it,' Thompson told your host. 'There's also the security research community that is leveraging this work to do their jobs better and faster as well. So it's kind of a dual-edged sword.' On The Hill FIRST IN MC: QUESTIONS, CONCERNS — Rep. Raja Kristhnamoorthi (D-Ill.), ranking member of the House Select Committee on China, wants answers on how the State Department is working to prevent the use of AI-enabled impersonations of officials, following reports that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was the recent subject of an AI hoax. Krishnamoorthi will send a letter to Rubio today, first obtained by Maggie, asking questions around the agency's approach to countering AI-enabled impersonations, such as deepfake videos and voice recordings. This comes after The Washington Post reported last week that an imposter used these types of scams to pose as Rubio and contact foreign diplomats and U.S. lawmakers. Given his role on the China Committee, Krishnamoorthi is particularly interested in understanding how the State Department is studying and addressing the potential negative impact of deepfakes on the U.S.-China relationship, and whether the agency has a process for evaluating the authenticity of communications from Chinese and other foreign officials. 'While I currently have no information indicating this incident involved a foreign state, and hoaxers are equally capable of creating deceptive deepfakes like this given the proliferation of AI technologies, this incident presents an opportunity to highlight such risks and seek information about the department's efforts to counter them,' Rajnamoorthi wrote in the letter being sent today. When asked about the impersonations, Rubio reportedly told reporters in Malaysia last week that he uses official channels to communicate with foreign officials, in part due to the risk of imposters claiming to be him. The State Department put out a statement last week following the Post's report, noting that the agency is investigating the incident. China corner SUSPECTED BREACH — Suspected Chinese hackers have gained access to email accounts of advisers and attorneys at Wiley Rein, a top law firm in Washington, in an intelligence-gathering operation. CNN reported on Friday that the hackers linked to the breach 'have been known to target information related to trade, Taiwan and US government agencies involved in setting tariffs and reviewing foreign investment,' according to the firm. — Zoom out: This breach comes amid the Trump administration's trade war against China, which Wiley Rein helps its powerful clients navigate. The International Scene COME TOGETHER — Norway is joining the international initiative to boost Ukraine's cybersecurity defenses. Ukraine's Digital Transformation Ministry announced on Friday that Norway is also joining the Tallinn Mechanism and will provide Ukraine with 25 million Norwegian krone, or $2.5 million, to support the country's cyber defenses by the end of 2025. 'The Tallinn Mechanism is a key instrument of international support that helps Ukraine resist these attacks while building long-term digital resilience,' Norway's Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement. — Zoom out: Norway is the 12th country to join the Tallinn Mechanism — which includes Estonia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and the U.S. The group was established in 2023 to coordinate private sector and government aid to Ukraine. Quick Bytes LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION — Bodyguards using fitness app Strava inadvertently made locations of Swedish leaders, writes Lynsey Chutel for The New York Times. 'HORRIFIC BEHAVIOR' — In a series of posts on X, the AI chatbot Grok apologized for 'horrific behavior' following a series of posts that included expressing support for Adolf Hitler, Anthony Ha reports for TechCrunch. Also Happening Today The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association holds the TechNet Emergency 2025 conference. 9 a.m. Chat soon. Stay in touch with the whole team: Rosie Perper (rperper@ John Sakellariadis (jsakellariadis@ Maggie Miller (mmiller@ and Dana Nickel (dnickel@
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Yahoo
Floridians file $10M class action lawsuit against the DMV — how ‘appointment scalping' likely played a role
Fed up residents. Dangerous overnight waits. Alleged corruption. That's what attorney Michael Pizzi says Florida drivers are facing at the DMV. Pizzi is spearheading a $10 million class action lawsuit against the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles and the Tax Collector offices in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, claiming residents are being forced to wait in line for hours — with some even camping overnight — just to access basic DMV services. Don't miss I'm 49 years old and have nothing saved for retirement — what should I do? Don't panic. Here are 6 of the easiest ways you can catch up (and fast) Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 — and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here's how Want an extra $1,300,000 when you retire? Dave Ramsey says this 7-step plan 'works every single time' to kill debt, get rich in America — and that 'anyone' can do it 'We're here to say 'enough is enough,'' Pizzi recently told 7News and other news outlets at a press conference in Miami Lakes. 'Horrific and disgraceful' conditions 'It is nothing short of horrific and disgraceful,' Pizzi told 7News, calling out what he described as dangerous, degrading and disorganized conditions at local DMV centers. At the heart of the lawsuit is the story of a 17-year-old girl who slept outside a Pompano Beach DMV in January to get a driver's license appointment. 'We thought we would arrive there early, two hours before, and we get there and they laughed. They simply laughed and said 'Oh no, you need to come back at midnight the night before,'' said her mother, Jennifer Sassone, at the news conference. The teen and her friend ended up camping in an alley for 11 hours, exposing them to harassment and distress. 'What happened to my daughter is inhumane,' Sassone said. Scalpers, long lines and legal action Pizzi thinks that 'appointment scalpers' — people who hold or resell DMV time slots for cash — are a big part of the problem, even though the scheme was already illegalized earlier this year, saying, 'they're being held to account to every single person they have forced to wait on 10, 12-hour long lines in unsafe conditions, in degrading and deplorable conditions, just because of their incompetence, and they are condoning and permitting corruption.' The class action suit could open the door for potentially thousands of affected Floridians to join. 'Our hope is when people find out about this, they are going to come forward with their videos and stories,' Pizzi said at the conference. So, what is appointment scalping? Individuals and companies snatch up DMV appointments, often using bots, and then resell them on social media or through driving schools. According to NBC6 Miami, these appointment prices sell from $25 to $250. The appointments are supposed to be free, but instead, this unregulated practice has hijacked access to essential public services like getting a driver's license. A Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles spokesperson told CBS News the DMV cancels nearly 1,000 fake appointments daily across the state. In an effort to shorten lineups and free up bookings, the Miami-Dade Tax Collector's new appointment scalping ordinance was passed in April 2025 with: Fines up to $500 per offense Up to 60 days in jail A ban on promoting or listing DMV appointments for resale without written consent Miami-Dade Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez is working with County Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera to hunt down scalpers, especially those working in driving schools. One school was caught hoarding over 70 appointments, reselling them for over $200 each, according to 7News Miami. Fernandez calls these practices "predatory" and now that HB 0961 has been passed, appointment scalping is a first-degree misdemeanor statewide, which gives law enforcement full authority to prosecute bad actors. As the class action lawsuit unfolds, it shines a light on how public services are vulnerable, especially when digital systems are outdated or lack oversight. What to read next Money doesn't have to be complicated — sign up for the free Moneywise newsletter for actionable finance tips and news you can use. Join now.
