IFW Officials Remind Mainers To Be Wary of Online Schemes

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife cares about the Maine outdoors and those who enjoy it, so the department is reminding all who buy a sporting license or registration to make sure it is from the trusted and secure Maine.gov website.

“This type of ‘phishing’ has no place when it comes to Maine’s outdoors, so we would like to remind all of those who purchase a license or registration to use the Maine.gov website. It’s simple and secure,” says IFW Commissioner Chandler Woodcock.

Other websites that are not accessed through Maine.gov or mefishwildlife.com could direct users to services that are not required, provide incorrect information, charge users for services not needed, or even gather personal information in a phishing scheme.

“We have been providing outdoor licenses and other online services safely and securely since 2001,” says Woodcock. “We conduct 350 thousand online transactions each year. Maine.gov is the only place to buy your sporting licenses and registrations online.”

For 2015, the department sold over 330,000 fishing licenses and over 225,000 hunting licenses. It was the fifth straight year of increasing sales for hunting licenses. The number of fishing licenses has increased in 11 out of the past 12 years.

The online service provider for state agencies is the Information Resource of Maine, known as “InforME,” which manages the official State of Maine website. Online transactions via www.mefishwildlife.com or www.maine.gov direct users to the “Informe.org” websites, which are legitimate and secure.