Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is alerting residents about a surge in fraudulent text messages claiming to be from the “Illinois State Department of Motor Vehicles.” These texts threaten suspension of vehicle registration and licenses, falsely stating that enforcement will begin on January 17th. Officials stress that the Secretary of State’s office never requests personal or financial details via text. These are phishing scams—known as “smishing”—aimed at stealing sensitive information. Residents are urged to ignore and delete suspicious messages without clicking links. Genuine texts from the office are limited to appointment reminders for scheduled DMV visits. Residents are advised to remain vigilant and report any scam attempts to the Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov to help stop these fraudulent schemes.
“Scammers are constantly trying to find new ways to cheat Illinoisans out of their personal information and hard-earned money,” Giannoulias said. “These deceptive scams are unfortunately an increasingly prevalent threat in our modern society, and they’re coming from many sources, including phone calls, text messages and email communications. I encourage everyone to remain vigilant, avoid engaging with these messages and report scams to help protect themselves and others.”