Unpaid Toll Text? It Is Probably a Scam

A balance, a deadline, and a link.

The FTC describes it: a text out of the blue says you have unpaid tolls and need to pay immediately, often with a dollar amount and a link to a page that asks for bank or card information. It arrives whether or not you have driven through a toll recently, because scammers pose as tolling agencies from coast to coast. The page is a phishing site. Beyond the payment, it may collect personal details such as a driver’s license number that can be used for identity theft.

Use the agency’s real number or website.

Do not click links in, or reply to, unexpected texts. If you think you might owe a toll, contact your state’s tolling agency using a phone number or website you know is real, such as the one on your account statement or your transponder paperwork, not anything in the text. Real toll accounts show the charges when you sign in the way you normally do. The FTC’s broader rule for texts applies: legitimate companies will not ask for account information by text.

Reporting trains the filters.

Use your phone’s “report junk” option, or forward the text to 7726, which spells SPAM, then delete it. Your phone and wireless provider may also offer filtering or blocking for messages from unknown senders; the FTC points to the wireless industry site ctia.org for carrier options.

Act on what you entered.

If you entered card or bank details, call the issuer at the number on the card or statement, report the charge, and ask for a new card. Watch the account for other charges. If you entered a password, change it and any reused copies. If you gave a driver’s license, Social Security number, or similar details, IdentityTheft.gov lists the steps for each, and the data breach checklist explains a credit freeze.

Deliveries, refunds, invoices.

Toll texts are one costume of a familiar scam. The FTC lists others that arrive by text: package delivery notices, suspicious activity on your account, payment problems, fake invoices, and prizes or gift cards. The response is the same each time: do not use the link, check through a channel you already trust, report, delete. See how to spot phishing for the full list of warning signs, and ftc.gov/textscams for more.