The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is asking truckers to be on the alert for a fake safety audit email scam.
The Scam As It Is
The FMCSA has just issued a cautionary alert to the trucking industry regarding an email phishing scam. This scheme involves a fraudulent group posing as the FMCSA, falsely informing truckers of a mandatory safety audit scheduling requirement.
Comment from FMCSA:
“An email is being sent to registered entities by someone pretending to be FMCSA and notifying you need to schedule a safety audit. The link to request the safety audit has what appears to be a SAFER URL and mirrors FMCSA’s MC-150, but includes fields to enter a PIN #, EIN #, and Social Security Number. Not only is some of this information Personal Identifiable information (PII), but this information would also allow the unauthorized party to gain access to your FMCSA account. The email containing the link is also very convincing this is coming from FMCSA.“
Recipe to avoid being scammed
The agency emphasizes that emails concerning safety audits will originate either from a dedicated FMCSA mailbox or from the relevant state entity tasked with conducting the audit. Typically, these email addresses will conclude with ".gov".
If you feel that an email is suspicious, you’re encouraged to reach out to the emailing agency to verify that the safety audit request is legitimate.
Federal Trade Commission issued a guide on email authentication technology that we recommend reading.