TRENTON, N.J. — A wave of SMS phishing scams has hit New Jersey residents this week, with cybercriminals impersonating the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission in fraudulent messages threatening license suspensions and financial penalties.
The New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC) confirmed receiving multiple reports from residents who received text messages claiming they owed an outstanding traffic ticket. The messages warned that failure to pay by Wednesday would result in suspended vehicle registration, increased toll charges, and credit score damage.
The fraudulent messages include URLs designed to mimic official government sites by using elements like “ezpassnj” and “.gov” in the address. However, these links redirect users to fake websites aimed at stealing personal and financial information. Victims are urged to reply “Y” and reopen the message to access the malicious links or are told to copy and paste the URL into their browser manually.
This scheme resembles earlier phishing attempts that falsely claimed to originate from E-ZPass or New Jersey toll services. In those cases, users were told they had overdue toll charges to coerce payment.
Authorities clarified that the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission does not send text messages regarding driver’s license or vehicle registration status. “The NJ MVC only sends text messages to remind residents about scheduled MVC appointments,” officials stated.
E-ZPass and collection firms not involved in scam
New Jersey E-ZPass also confirmed it does not send unsolicited texts seeking payments. If an account is legitimately in collections, residents may receive communications from Credit Collection Services, which include a reference number, website, and contact phone number.
Users are advised not to click on any links in suspicious messages or submit personal information. Instead, they should directly visit official websites to confirm account statuses.
Cybersecurity officials urged anyone targeted by the scam to forward the message to 7726 (SPAM) and report the incident to the Federal Trade Commission, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, and the NJCCIC.
A phishing scam targeting New Jersey drivers warns of license suspensions to extract sensitive data through fake government texts.
