Toll Road Text Scams Are in Overdrive. How to Spot Them | Global News Avenue

This is not your imagination: you will receive more news about unpaid tolls. They are all scams.

The Federal Trade Commission and several state authorities, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta and New York Governor Kathy Hochulwarning drivers to be aware of these messages, which have increased frequency over the past few months.

“The liar pretended to be a power supply mechanism from coast to coast and sent texts asking for money,” the FTC said. In the statement Posted to its website in January.

These texts claim that you owe money, sometimes mention a specific dollar amount, including fuzzy threats if you don’t click on the link and take quick action to pay off your balance.

Do not click on the link. You can hand over your bank or credit card information and personally identifiable data to cybercriminals, which may lead to Identity theft.

How does Road Toll Smishing Scams work?

Unpaid phone scams are classified as Play smishso bad actors use text messages and pretend to be part of the company’s extraction of your personal information.

The FBI says Words used by text sent by scammers It looks like this:

“(State Payment Service Name): We have noticed that the outstanding charges in your record are $12.51. To avoid delays, visit https://myturnpiketollservices.com to resolve your balance.”

Scams like this are becoming more and more popular because people have moved from everyday life to everyday life, said Wolfgang Goerlich of IANS Research, a Boston-based cybersecurity research and consulting firm. Since we are used to getting text updates about upcoming flight itinerary changes or monthly payments due, getting text about unpaid tolls may seem innocent or even normal.

Michael Scheumack, chief innovation and marketing officer of identity theft protection service Sidentityiq, said bad actors also rely on toll road scams to get payments from victims. In the FBI example above, the scammer warns that late fees will be charged.

For those who click on a link in the text, scams can work in different ways. The offender may be trying to obtain a copy of his driver’s license, credit card information, or both. Scheumack said they may also try to trick you into sharing sensitive personal data, such as usernames or passwords. In other cases, he said, fake links could download malware to your smartphone device. Depending on the amount of data you provide, you may risk losing your identity.

How to Avoid Falling Road Toll Scam

You can’t always stop spam texts you don’t need, but you can control how you respond to them. Here are some other tips from experts on how to avoid becoming a victim of Toll Smishing.

Slow down before the performance

Toll road scams often convey a false sense of urgency. This will induce you to act quickly, even before considering the possibility that it could be a scam.

“The fearful person makes inappropriate decisions quickly and that’s exactly what the liar wants,” Gorisch said. “If a message makes you feel rushed or scared, trust your intuition and stop responding.”

If you receive unpaid paid text, it could be a scam

Charging agencies usually do not send random messages. Instead, according to Dr. Zulfikar Ramzan, they are more likely to send you notifications of unpaid tolls via regular mail, HaloChief Scientist and EVP of Products and Development.

If you are curious about the fact that the text is real, FTC recommendations Call on the state’s charging agencies to inquire. Use a phone number or website you know is real, not information in text.

Don’t click on the link

Ramzan said you should be alert to any links in the message. If you think the link is legitimate, you can (and should) hover over and check the URL before clicking.

“If the URL looks or doesn’t match the official website, it can be a scam,” he said.

For safety reasons, call Toll Agency directly to take care of any unpaid tolls.

Pay attention to the typewriter

Beware of typos or embarrassing wording in Toll Smishing Scams and double-check the sender’s contact information using verifiable Toll Agencies or government websites. Paid scams are often full of errors and may contain incorrect contact information.

Typos are also often found in phishing emails, so make the habit of carefully looking at the messages you receive to help avoid fraud.

How to discover the news of toll road scams

Here are the latest examples of some sample messages received by CNET employees. They are worded slightly differently, but follow a similar blueprint:

What if I get stuck in a scam?

If you think you’re stuck in a toll road scam, there are some steps you can take to limit your potential losses. Your best course of action may depend on the information you share, but you can consider doing some of the following or all:

• Contact your card issuer. If you have shared your credit card number, expiration date and security code, call your credit card company using the number on the back of the card. They may respond by freezing your account or closing the trade-off card and sending you a new account.
• Freeze your credit report. If you share your SSN and other personal identification proofs, you should study Freeze your credit report With three credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian and Transunion. This prevents identity thieves from opening new accounts in your name, and you can always temporarily liberate the report if you need to apply for a new credit card or loan.
• Check your credit report. You should also check your credit report for suspicious new accounts or information that you can do in Annual CreditReport.com. If you find any errors in your credit report, you can object to those errors and delete them.
• Register for identity theft protection. Also, consider registering Identity theft protection and credit monitoring. These companies can monitor your financial accounts, credit reports and identity on your behalf The dark network Traces of information. Many companies also offer $1 million or more of identity theft insurance protection.

How to report Toll Smishing

this FTC says You should report the paid message before you delete the paid message from your phone.

“Use your phone’s report spam option to report these unwanted text to your messaging app or forward it to 7726 (spam),” the agency said.

The FBI also said you can Internet Crime Complaint Center. You can do this by sharing the phone calls from which the text comes from and the websites sent in the text. All of this can help governments and service providers stop fraudsters before causing additional harm.