You get a “final notice” about an unpaid toll, with a small dollar amount and a link. You did drive on a toll road recently, so it feels plausible.
Final Notice: You have an unpaid toll balance of $6.99. Pay by Oct 8 to avoid a $50 late fee: toll-pay-now.example
Reply Y to activate the link.
An invented example, but real scam messages look just like it.
Short answer: This is a known scam. The FTC says scammers are pretending to be tolling agencies coast to coast, and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center had received more than 2,000 complaints, according to CBS News.
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Red flags in a message like this
- A small balance plus a late fee, built to feel urgent
- A text from a number that isn’t your toll agency
- A request to reply “Y” so the link becomes clickable
- A payment link to a site that isn’t your agency’s official one
- You have no account with that agency, or didn’t drive that road
What real toll agencies do
- Real toll services like E-ZPass don’t send unsolicited texts asking for personal information such as card numbers, according to the CBS News report.
- To check, log in to your toll account or type the agency’s website address yourself.
- Don’t reply, even with “Y” or “STOP”. Delete the text and report it as junk.
If you already tapped, replied or paid
- Tapped but typed nothing: close the page and delete the text.
- Paid by card: call your card issuer, block the card and ask to dispute the charge.
- Typed an account password: change it and turn on two-step login.
Report it: Forward the text to 7726 (SPAM) and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. You can also report it at ic3.gov.
Still not sure? Paste it into ScamRead before you reply or pay.