TikTok is once again the scene of a scam related to obtaining a driver’s license. This time, the user ‘carnetsdgtaprobados’ offers the license without the need to take exams. It promises speed and ease in obtaining the card in exchange for an amount of money that must be agreed upon by contacting privately. To give greater credibility, the user uses the logo of the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) for their profile image.
However, this is a deception, since obtaining the license is a legal process that involves passing two exams: the theoretical and the practical. Any offer that promises to offer the card without passing these exams is clearly fraudulent, DGT sources confirm. The process for obtaining the license is included in the General Regulations for Drivers. According to article 7 of the regulations, the candidate to obtain a driving license must be “declared suitable by the Provincial Traffic Headquarters in the theoretical and practical tests.”
The scam has been detected by VerificaRtve after a user alerted about the suspicious account. In their videos, some of which have accumulated more than 20,000 views, they promise to obtain the license without having to take exams. To contact and agree on payment, they indicate that it must be done privately, as stated in the user profile.
The citizen who contacted the tool with which RTVE analyzes the messages circulating on social networks to detect hoaxes provides a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation with the user ‘carnetsdgtaprobados’. In the conversation, you can see how the scammer offers a driver’s license without the need for exams in exchange for 750 euros.
Payment instructions are included in the message. “First you pay the costs of the procedures and once you receive the card you would pay the rest of the payment,” says the scammer. The profile image of this WhatsApp account includes the DGT logo. The telephone number, however, has no relationship with the public body, but is linked to a bank account in the name of a private citizen whose initials are P.A.M.G., according to VerificaRtve.
This is not the first driver’s license scam on TikTok. In 2020, lawyer Xavi Abad explained on this social network the existence of at least 600 fraudulent pages on the internet where driving licenses and DNI were offered for amounts ranging between 800 and 3,000 euros.
In a video published on his account
This same year, the General Directorate of Traffic has already been the victim of identity theft in a cybercrime related to the payment of an alleged fine. The deception consists of notifying a non-existent fine with the aim of stealing the victim’s personal information and banking details.
