Ignore texts from Kentucky DMV scammers, experts advise

LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) — A shady text claiming to be from the Kentucky State Department of Motor Vehicles is making rounds all over the state.
It can take just one text for the scammer to get the info they're looking for.
Read more of the latest Kentucky news
A particular text going around threatens to suspend vehicle registration, legal disputes, and damage your credit score on account of unpaid traffic tickets. Allen Blair is the spokesperson for the Kentucky Department of Transportation. He urges everyone not to panic and click links when they get these texts.
'Keep in mind, the transportation cabinet doesn't collect fees for traffic tickets or assess traffic tickets. If you get anything about traffic tickets or tolls from the DMV, that isn't us. It's a scam,' Blair said.
The Kentucky Department of Transportation has been working to break these links, and it looks like they've had success with it. Still, your best bet is to toss these texts.
'We've heard from people who contact us and say either the link is broken or it's not working. We're hopeful that our efforts to report these links and get these websites shut down is working,' Blair said.
Ignore texts from Kentucky DMV scammers, experts advise
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Gary Adkins is the state president of AARP Kentucky, an organization focusing on issues related to Medicare, health care, economic security, work, and independent living. Because of this, Adkins said he's seen a lot of similar scams with the same goal of taking personal information or finances.
'Scams are very underreported in the United States. Last year, it's believed that Americans lost over $47 billion to identity fraud and scams,' Adkins said.
These texts can range from scary to annoying, but not entertaining the scammers is the best way to deal with them.
'Knowledge gives you power over these types of scams. If nobody is biting on it, then they'll move on to some other type of scam,' Adkins said.
'Just ignore it, report it, and delete it from your phone and protect yourself,' Blair added.
While these messages are safe to ignore, you can report them here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Atlantic

44 minutes ago

• Atlantic

Brad Lander's Stand

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Los Angeles Times

2 hours ago

• Los Angeles Times

Altadena ICE raid highlights fears that roundups will stymie rebuilding efforts

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The disappearance of undocumented workers stands to exacerbate the labor shortage that has grown more pronounced in recent years as construction has been slowed by high interest rates and the rising cost of materials that could get even more expensive due to new tariffs. 'In general, costs have risen in the last seven years for all sorts of construction' including houses and apartments, said Devang Shah, a principal at Genesis Builders, a firm focused on rebuilding homes in Altadena for people who were displaced by the fire. 'We're not seeing much construction work going on.' The slowdown has left a shortage of workers as many contractors consolidated or got out of the business because they couldn't find enough work, Shah said. 'When you start thinking about Altadena and the Palisades,' he said, 'limited subcontractors can create headwinds.'

Boston Globe

5 hours ago

• Boston Globe

Many Americans are witnessing immigration arrests for the first time and reacting

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Melyssa Rivas walks outside a location where she witnessed masked federal agents detaining a person earlier this month outside Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Downey, Calif., on June 20. Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press 'To do this, at 5 o'clock, right at the dinner rush, right on a busy intersection with multiple restaurants, they were trying to make a statement,' Greenfield said. 'But I don't know if their intended point is getting across the way they want it to. I think it is sparking more backlash.' Advertisement Previously, many arrests happened late at night or in the pre-dawn hours by agents waiting outside people's homes as they left for work or outside their work sites when they finished their day. When ICE raided another popular restaurant in San Diego in 2008, agents did it in the early morning without incident. 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'It was like a scene out of a movie' Melyssa Rivas had just arrived at her office in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, California one morning last week when she heard the frightened screams of young women. She went outside to find the women confronting nearly a dozen masked federal agents who had surrounded a man kneeling on the pavement. Melyssa Rivas shows her video of masked federal agents detaining a person earlier this month outside Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Downey, Calif., on June 20. Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press 'It was like a scene out of a movie,' Rivas said. 'They all had their faces covered and were standing over this man who was clearly traumatized. And there are these young girls screaming at the top of their lungs.' Advertisement As Rivas began recording the interaction, a growing group of neighbors shouted at the agents to leave the man alone. They eventually drove off in vehicles, without detaining him, video shows. Rivas spoke to the man afterward, who told her the agents had arrived at the car wash where he worked that morning, then pursued him as he fled on his bicycle. It was one of several recent workplace raids in the majority-Latino city. The same day, federal agents were seen at a Home Depot, a construction site and an LA Fitness gym. It wasn't immediately clear how many people had been detained. 'Everyone is just rattled,' said Alex Frayde, an employee at LA Fitness who said he saw the agents outside the gym and stood at the entrance, ready to turn them away as another employee warned customers about the sighting. In the end, the agents never came in. Communities protest around ICE buildings Arrests at immigration courts and other ICE buildings have also prompted emotional scenes as masked agents have turned up to detain people going to routine appointments and hearings. In the city of Spokane in eastern Washington state, hundreds of people rushed to protest outside an ICE building June 11 after former city councilor Ben Stuckart posted on Facebook. Stuckart wrote that he was a legal guardian of a Venezuelan asylum seeker who went to check in at the ICE building, only to be detained. His Venezuelan roommate was also detained. Both men had permission to live and work in the U.S. temporarily under humanitarian parole, Stuckart told The Associated Press. 'I am going to sit in front of the bus,' Stuckart wrote, referring to the van that was set to transport the two men to an ICE detention center in Tacoma. 'The Latino community needs the rest of our community now. Not tonight, not Saturday, but right now!!!!' Advertisement The city of roughly 230,000 is the seat of Spokane County, where just over half of voters cast ballots for Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Stuckart was touched to see his mother's caregiver among the demonstrators. 'She was just like, 'I'm here because I love your mom, and I love you, and if you or your friends need help, then I want to help,'' he said through tears. By evening, the Spokane Police Department sent over 180 officers, with some using pepper balls, to disperse protesters. Over 30 people were arrested, including Stuckart who blocked the transport van with others. He was later released. Aysha Mercer, a stay-at-home mother of three, said she is 'not political in any way, shape or form.' But many children in her Spokane neighborhood — who play in her yard and jump on her trampoline — come from immigrant families, and the thought of them being affected by deportations was 'unacceptable,' she said. She said she wasn't able to go to Stuckart's protest. But she marched for the first time in her life on June 14, joining millions in 'No Kings' protests across the country. 'I don't think I've ever felt as strongly as I do right this here second,' she said.