City of Meadowlakes
Beginning May 7, 2025, only state-issued driver licenses and identification cards that are fully compliant with the REAL ID Act will be accepted for official federal government purposes, such as entering secure federal buildings or boarding domestic flights.
Texas began issuing REAL ID compliant cards on Oct. 10, 2016, and these cards are marked with a gold circle surrounded by a white inset star located in the upper right-hand corner.
I expect that most of you are REAL ID compliant.
All Texas driver’s licenses (or identification cards) issued after Oct. 16, 2016, are valid until the expiration date on the card. You can use it until it expires.
When you renew your license at a driver’s license office, you must bring the following documentation: Application for renewal; Proof of citizenship if you have not previously provided proof; Updated evidence of lawful presence; Proof of identity (a copy of an original birth certificate or a U. S. Passport); and Provide your Social Security Number.
I was unaware of this additional documentation that was not required in 2016 and had to return home to retrieve my passport.
The REAL ID requirement for boarding flights was part of an act of Congress in 2005 as a result of shortcomings in our security systems at the time of the nine-eleven catastrophe.
The requirement has been pushed into the future until now.
There are only two more weeks before the REAL ID requirement becomes mandatory for boarding flights or entering federal buildings, We have written about scams in these pages before, and they often receive attention in social media.
One that has been around for roughly two years was only recently brought to my attention.
A scammer calls an unsuspecting presumably random target. The caller ID may even show that the call is coming from the county sheriff’s office, or the US Marshall’s office.
The scammer then tells the recipient of the call that he has a warrant for the recipient’s arrest for failing to appear for jury duty.
The scammer tells you that, fortunately, you can avoid arrest by paying a hefty fine of thousands of dollars.
To pay the fine, the scammer asks you to wire money, put cash on a gift card or prepaid debit card and share the PIN, use a digital wallet app, or even send cryptocurrency using a Bitcoin ATM. Of course, the fine and jury summons are not real.
In the case that was brought to my attention the person being scammed had actually missed a jury date, making the call amazingly realistic. Fortunately for the victim, his phone died during the call.
When he charged the phone and tried to use the phone’s Caller ID to call the sheriff back, the return call actually went to the real sheriff’s department where the deputy assured him that the whole thing was a scam.
The truth is that courts or government agencies never ask you to pay over the phone.
They never ask for sensitive information like Social Security numbers or birthdates.
Scammers do, however. Here are a few facts that are important to remember: Courts never ask you to pay over the phone. In fact, no government agency will do that.
Only swindlers insist that you can ONLY pay with gift cards, wire transfers or payment apps.
Courts never ask potential jurors for sensitive information over the phone, like your Social Security number or birthdate. Only scammers do.
