BMV warns of scam, more deceptive messages

The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) is issuing an urgent warning to customers regarding a new, highly deceptive text message scam designed to steal money and personal information.

According to state officials, the latest iteration of this scam is particularly convincing. The fraudulent text messages contain links that closely mimic official State of Indiana web addresses. Once clicked, users are directed to a sophisticated fake website that deceptively copies the look and feel of the actual BMV site. Scammers have even adapted to using the official BMV seal to falsely establish legitimacy.

To further fool victims, the fraudulent site will go as far as generating fake BMV receipts and confirmation numbers after a "payment" is made. The BMV notes that the "fees" mentioned in these scam texts are typically not even charges that the agency collects.

State officials are urging the public to remain vigilant and consider these messages fraudulent. If you receive one of these texts, the BMV advises you to:

Ignore the message entirely.

Delete the text immediately.

Do not click on any links provided in the message.

The BMV wants to remind all Hoosiers of its official communication policies: The agency will never ask customers to pay fees through a link sent via text message, nor does it send SMS text messages regarding outstanding penalties.

For more information and a continuously updated list of known BMV-related scams, customers are encouraged to visit the official state website at in.gov/bmv/resources/consumer-scam-alerts/.