WASHINGTON — State officials are warning Americans not to respond to a surge of scam road toll collection texts.
Scammers pretending to be state road toll agencies aim to trick individuals into disclosing sensitive financial details, like credit card numbers or bank account information.
They’re so-called smishing scams – a form of phishing that relies on SMS texts to trick people into sending money or share sensitive information.
FILE – A man uses a cell phone in New Orleans on Aug. 11, 2019.
AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said she received one purporting to be from the statewide GeauxPass toll system.
“This is a fraudulent scheme,” stated Murrill on social media this week. “If you happen to receive a suspicious text, avoid clicking on it. You must protect your personal information from being stolen by these deceitful scammers.”
Even states that don’t charge drivers tolls have noticed an uptick.
“Vermont does not have toll roads, but individuals traveling through the state might confuse these scams with legitimate toll agencies in other states,” commented Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark in a video public service announcement shared on Instagram.
Cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks said last week that a threat actor has registered over 10,000 domains for the scams. The scams are impersonating toll services and package delivery services in at least 10 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Ontario.
While Apple bans links in iPhone messages received from unknown senders, the scam attempts to bypass that protection by inviting users to reply with “Y” and reopen the text.
A warning last April from the FBI said the texts used nearly identical language falsely claiming that recipients have an unpaid or outstanding toll. Some threaten fines or suspended driving privileges if recipients don’t pay up.
The FBI at the time asked those who received the scams to file a complaint with its IC3 internet crime complaint center and to also delete the texts. The FBI didn’t immediately respond to a request for updated guidance Thursday.
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