The FBI and Virginia Department of Transportation have issued an urgent warning to motorists about a new scam involving unpaid toll texts. Authorities consider it a significant threat that requires your immediate attention.
“Smishing,” or identity theft schemes involving text messages intended to dupe you, have become increasingly common in recent years, like their closely related “phishing” cousins.
“They try to get you to click something, and in this case, a text. And that link usually sends you to a bad place where, if you provide information … it’s going to be a bad outcome,” David Caudill, a division administrator for VDOT’s Tolling Operations Division, told WTOP News:
One such scheme authorities are tracking involves fraudulent texts regarding toll balances.
Since the publishing of this story, at least one listener has reached out to WTOP to report receiving a scam text claiming to be from “Virginia Toll Services,” which does not exist.
Caudill said VDOT hasn’t received a report about the scheme in Virginia, but neighboring North Carolina has, along with Pennsylvania and Illinois.
After more than 2,000 complaints in at least three states, the FBI issued a warning this week about the attacks.
“It’s kind of a broad net we are throwing out to anybody in the drives, basically, or even if you don’t drive, to someone that has a phone number. And they’re basically giving you information that you have an outstanding toll and you need to go to a website, that’s the embedded link, to pay it,” Caudill told the outlet.
Making matters worse, VDOT uses text messages to share information about your account.
However, there’s one substantial difference:
“The difference between our texts and what we’re talking about here is we don’t have an embedded link,” Caudill said.
Authorities recommend that anyone who falls victim to the scam save the text and submit a complaint to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.