"Scalpers have been known to buy and resell hot tickets for big-name music acts or sporting events, like Taylor Swift concerts and the Super Bowl. In Florida, some were using the same tactics for a less glamorous pass: a driver’s license appointment in Miami-Dade County.The county tax collector’s office announced on Monday that it had “uncovered a network of appointment scalpers” benefiting from access to motor vehicles offices by “hoarding free appointments and reselling them for a profit.”The scalpers found so far have not been punished, because the practice was not illegal, but there is already an effort to change that and make it a civil offense...The scalpers booked the appointments by using bots and fake accounts, and then resold the appointments for $25 to $250, the office said...Residents have been forced to book their appointments online weeks or months away, only to stand in lines that often wind out the office doors when they arrive."
More information at The New York Times [gift link].
As an AAA member in RI, I can use AAA to do simple DMV transactions.
ReplyDeleteThis is only possible if the schedules are so tight that walk-ins aren't possible. Imagine if a government were to make it this hard to get an ID, and then required said ID to vote.
ReplyDeleteOh wait, Florida's voter ID law has been in place since 1998. FL has had plenty of time to allocate the resources to get this sorted out, so it's clearly that people in Miami are being neglected for essential civil services. Can't imagine why the state government would do such a thing though...?