A rogue e-mail is currently circulating on behalf of the National Road Transport Agency (RDW). Recipients are asked to send a copy of the front and back of their driver's license to comply with the "identification requirement. In reality, scammers try to obtain vehicle and personal data in this way. The Fraud Helpdesk on its website.
The email states that the RDW implemented changes to the organization's privacy policy on June 1. This supposedly makes it impossible to identify motorists at the Basic Registration of Vehicles (BRV). According to fraudsters, the General Data Protection Regulation (AVG) requires everyone with a valid driver's license to re-identify.
To do so, drivers must send a copy of their driver's license to the RDW, both front and back. "Please ensure that the quality of your proof of identity is of high resolution and no essential information is covered," the notice states. A black-and-white copy is also not accepted by the BRV. The email contains a dubious email address to which the copy should be sent.
The scams don't stop there. The RDW is supposedly curious about the quality of service in order to improve it. To this end, the agency has prepared a customer satisfaction survey. Again through an unreliable link, recipients can fill out the questionnaire. In this way, the scammers try to obtain even more personal data from potential victims.
This e-mail is not from the RDW, the Fraude Help Desk warns. The organization urges anyone who has received this fake message to forward it to the Fraude Help Desk and then delete it. Do not click on the links and certainly do not enter any data.
A driver's license contains all kinds of personal and sensitive information. Besides first and last name, the "pink piece of paper" contains your place of birth, place of residence, expiration date of the driver's license, the different types of licenses you have obtained, a digital signature and your BSN number. This data is of interest to cyber criminals to commit identity fraud, for example, or to sell on to other scammers.
This is the second time in a short time that the RDW has been compromised. Earlier this week we wrote that license plate access is now free. Previously, drivers had to pay almost five euros to request their license plate history for the past nine years. Moreover, this had to be done in writing. Finally, one had to provide a copy of an identity document.
The Consumers' Association raised the alarm and asked the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens to rule on the matter. The supervisory authority agreed with the interest group and concluded that these are too many obstacles for motorists to use their right of inspection. The RDW then immediately adjusted their inspection procedure. Drivers can submit a inspection request via the RDW site using their DigiD. Moreover, they no longer have to pay.
Consumers Union took the test and requested an employee's license plate history. Within two weeks, the latter received a registered letter containing all data going back up to nine years.
