Toll Enforcement Authority Text Message
The scams regarding debt for road toll services is nothing new. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) last April said it had received more than 2,000 complaints from at least three states regarding road toll collection “smishing” — a combination of “SMS” or “short message service” and “phishing,” a term for fraudulent emails that trick people into handing over personal data.
Tips for avoiding smishing scams:
- Don’t reply to text messages from unknown numbers.
- Don’t click on links in texts from unknown senders to try to access a website through the text.
- Delete and report the message using your phone’s “report junk” option.
- Block the sender’s email address or phone number.
- If you are unsure of the legitimacy of a text message, don’t engage with the sender.
Clicking a link may let scammers:
- install ransomware or other programs to spy on your online activity or hold your device hostage by encrypting data and demanding payment to unscramble it.
- gain access to personal information including passwords, credit card numbers, banking PINs, etc., to take out loans or credit cards or perform other fraudulent financial transactions using your identity.