Steve Weisman is a lawyer, college professor, author, and one of the country’s leading experts in cybersecurity, identity theft, and scams. See Steve’s other Con Watch articles.
The most effective scams are the ones that capitalize on important issues that apply to you. When coupled with an impending deadline, you have a situation ripe for scams. And so it is with the upcoming May 7 deadline for obtaining REAL ID, a federally compliant identification card (usually in the form of your driver’s license) that you will need in order to board domestic airlines or enter certain federal facilities.
The federal REAL ID Act, passed in 2005, established new security requirements for driver’s licenses and identification cards. All states are required to comply with the law, and you will need it to fly after May 7. (A valid U.S. passport is also an acceptable form of identification.)
The original REAL ID deadline was set for October 1, 2021; however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the deadline was postponed until May 3, 2023, and then extended a final time to May 7, 2025.
Mark Twain said, “Never put off until tomorrow what you can put off until the day after tomorrow,” and apparently many Americans heeded Twain’s advice. According to the Transportation Security Administration, only one in five travelers currently flying through U.S. airports has a REAL ID. As the May 7 deadline rapidly approaches, people attempting to renew their licenses to be REAL ID compliant are finding delayed appointment times and long lines for walk-ins. In Miami, scalpers were getting license renewal appointments and selling them for a profit.
In the face of this impending deadline, scammers are contacting people posing as government officials offering to help you apply for your REAL ID, while their real purpose is to harvest your personal information and use it to make you a victim of identity theft. Making the problem worse is that in order to get a REAL ID, you must provide documentation such as a birth certificate or passport along with evidence of your Social Security number through your Social Security card or a W-2, so any scammer asking for this same information would appear to be acting appropriately.
No states are initiating contact with people asking for personal information to apply for your REAL ID. Never provide personal information or click on a link in an email or text message unless you have absolutely confirmed that the communication is legitimate.
Sometimes, you may be able to pick up on obvious (or not so obvious) mistakes in communications from scammers. For instance, text messages to residents of Illinois purported to be from the Department of Motor Vehicles, but the agency name in Illinois is actually the Department of Driver Services.
In any event, if you receive a communication pertaining to REAL ID, your best choice is to contact your state agency that deals with driver’s licenses. AAA members in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Connecticut and Montana can also apply for their REAL ID through AAA branches in those states.
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