Tennessee scam targets truck drivers; texting scam also reported
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee is informing the public about recent scams, including one that is targeting truck drivers.
According to a Facebook post from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, there were reports of truck drivers being scammed on Wednesday, June 11 outside a Love’s Travel Stop off Interstate 40 in Dandridge, Tenn. Authorities said that “these victims would be approached by one of the suspects and then escorted to a group of other co-conspirators. The victims would be asked to play a betting game, and the victim would be conned out of their money and jewelry.”
The Facebook post included photos of the suspects, and the sheriff’s office asked for anyone with information on the case to contact Detective Lt. Robby McMahan by calling 865-471-6000 ext. 1105 or by sending an email to rmemahan@jeffersontytn.gov.
Text scam
On June 5, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office also notified the public about a scam involving text messages that claim to come from the “Tennessee Department of Vehicles.”
The text told recipients they had an outstanding traffic ticket, and if they didn’t complete a payment by the deadline, they could face fines, suspensions and prosecution. The text included a link for recipients to resolve the matter.
The sheriff’s office said that anyone who receives the text should not click the link and should delete the message.
Texting scams are becoming increasingly prevalent. Earlier this month, state Departments of Transportation in Idaho, Iowa and Wisconsin issued warnings about phishing scams occurring in their respective states.
“We’re hearing from our DMV counterparts that Illinois, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Jersey, Georgia and New York were hit with this scam last week. Given the number of calls we’re getting from DMV customers, it’s likely Wisconsin is the next target,” DMV Bureau of Driver Services Director Tina Braddy said in a statement. “We want to protect our residents, so we are quickly issuing this alert to ensure fewer fall victim to these scams.”
As with scams in most other states, these scam texts are seeking payment for unpaid tolls – or more recently, for unpaid traffic violations – and threaten legal action if the fines or tolls are not urgently paid. In most instances, the fraudulent correspondence is designed to appear to be from a state agency. LL