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SALT LAKE CITY — A KSL viewer named Shannon shared a screenshot of a text message that claimed she owed a fine to the Utah Department of Transportation. The message included a URL that looked official at first glance.
Shannon expressed her concern. "Utah.gov looks official. It makes me anxious to get these texts," she said. "To read they're coming from my state is scary."
To get to the bottom of it, Get Gephardt took Shannon's story to Special Agent Juan Garcia with the FBI. He confirmed it was definitely a phishing scam.
Once someone clicks the link, they're directed to a fake website designed to look like UDOT, asking them to "log in" or "pay" their toll.
The scam message includes a URL that begins with https://utah.gov, but then has a dash and some other characters. It looks official at first glance, but it is not a real .gov domain.
Real government sites end in .gov, like https://utah.gov or https://irs.gov. In this scam, the domain is owned by the scammer.
Garcia advised, "I think the main thing is, when you think something looks weird, I would say do your diligence as far as looking at the domain."
Remember, a person doesn't have to be official to create an official-looking website. For example, people can't assume that a .org belongs to a nonprofit.
As Gephardt reported in 2020, with a few clicks, I was able to register the website mattgephardt.org. While I like to think of myself as a charitable person, I can assure you, I am not in any way a charity.
