TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody today issued a Consumer Alert warning Floridians of a new COVID-19 vaccination text scam. There have been reports of fraudulent text messages being sent to Floridians asking for driver license details in order to remake licenses that show vaccination status. The text messages provide a link that sends targets to a spoofed Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles website with input boxes requesting Social Security and driver license information—including a place to upload a photocopy of a driver license.

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “COVID-19 cases have decreased drastically across the state, but that hasn’t stopped scammers from finding new angles to exploit the pandemic. Please be on the lookout for phony messages and remember that the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles will never reach out via text and ask for personal information. Florida is not updating driver licenses to include proof of vaccination—any solicitation making this claim is a scam that should be reported immediately.”

Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Executive Director Terry L. Rhodes said, "The best defense against scams like this is to know how FLHSMV interacts with our customers. We do not text Floridians regarding the status of their driver license or request personal or medical information via text message. If you receive a text asking for this information, it is a scam. With only the information on your driver license, scammers can create many fraudulent financial accounts. All under your name, all without your knowledge. Do not respond to these texts and do not click on the links contained in the text message."

The spoofed website includes the Department of Health logo.  Anyone receiving this text message should not respond nor click on any links.  Any callers to the CHD complaining about the text message may be directed to the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division to file a report by calling 1-866-9NO-SCAM or visiting https://www.myfloridalegal.com/
 

Additional information and guidance from the Office of the Attorney General, including the full consumer alert, is found here:  https://www.myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsreleases/415E68EB687EDCCF8525876C005179A5