Massachusetts' motor vehicle registry warns of spoof site
Phony site charged consumers $10 to access the registry site
March 06, 2007 (Computerworld) -- The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles is warning customers about an online scam intended to trick them out of their credit card information and their money.
Registry officials last week uncovered a spoof site purporting to be the registry's Web site. The phony Web site asked consumers for their credit card information and then charged a $10 fee to conduct registry business online.
The registry discovered the spoof site after an angry customer called and said she was being charged $10 to access the registry's Web site to process a normal transaction, according to RMV spokesman Erik Abell.
"Internally, the red flags went off and we were concerned the site had been hacked because the registry does not charge a subscription fee just to access the site," Abell said. "So we shut down the site immediately and took a look at it with our IT department and the attorney general's office and found that the site hadn't been compromised."
Abell said officials continued their investigation and determined that the customer had gone to a search engine and typed in www.mass.gov/rmv, rather than typing it in the address line.
"So when [the search engine] brought up all the links at the top of the site, under 'sponsored link' was a link to a site -- Download-forms-DMV.com -- that purported to be the registry's Web site. When you clicked on it, it brought you a list of transactions that you could normally do through the registry, like renewing your license, renewing your registration," Abell said.
According to Abell, the site required the consumer to fill in her credit card information and pay a $10 subscription fee to access the part of the RMV Web site where she could conduct her business.
"But all it did was collect her credit card information and then forwarded her back to the registry's authentic Web site so she could conduct her business," he said. "After the customer paid the money, she couldn't renew her license because of a personal issue, like maybe she had an outstanding parking ticket or something like that. She called us because she had to pay the money and then couldn't conduct her business."
Abell said the attorney general's office is investigating. "It looks like there are similar sites for other states as well," he said.
March 06, 2007 (Computerworld) -- The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles is warning customers about an online scam intended to trick them out of their credit card information and their money.
Registry officials last week uncovered a spoof site purporting to be the registry's Web site. The phony Web site asked consumers for their credit card information and then charged a $10 fee to conduct registry business online.
The registry discovered the spoof site after an angry customer called and said she was being charged $10 to access the registry's Web site to process a normal transaction, according to RMV spokesman Erik Abell.
"Internally, the red flags went off and we were concerned the site had been hacked because the registry does not charge a subscription fee just to access the site," Abell said. "So we shut down the site immediately and took a look at it with our IT department and the attorney general's office and found that the site hadn't been compromised."
Abell said officials continued their investigation and determined that the customer had gone to a search engine and typed in www.mass.gov/rmv, rather than typing it in the address line.
"So when [the search engine] brought up all the links at the top of the site, under 'sponsored link' was a link to a site -- Download-forms-DMV.com -- that purported to be the registry's Web site. When you clicked on it, it brought you a list of transactions that you could normally do through the registry, like renewing your license, renewing your registration," Abell said.
According to Abell, the site required the consumer to fill in her credit card information and pay a $10 subscription fee to access the part of the RMV Web site where she could conduct her business.
"But all it did was collect her credit card information and then forwarded her back to the registry's authentic Web site so she could conduct her business," he said. "After the customer paid the money, she couldn't renew her license because of a personal issue, like maybe she had an outstanding parking ticket or something like that. She called us because she had to pay the money and then couldn't conduct her business."
Abell said the attorney general's office is investigating. "It looks like there are similar sites for other states as well," he said.
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