Fake Toll Road Payment Demands Continue
Toll Road Phishing Text Messages
tl;dr
Beware of payment demand text messages falsely claiming to be from road toll operators. These are phishing scams designed to steal your credit card numbers and other personal information. Don’t click!
Almost every day, I receive text messages warning that I need to pay a road toll to avoid fines or late payment fees, even though I haven’t driven on any toll roads lately. The messages include a link that you can click to make the payment demanded.
Messages Not From Genuine Toll Operators
Here in Australia, the messages claim to be from toll operators such as Linkt and EastLink. Elsewhere in the world, they claim to be from other prominent local toll companies.
If you have recently driven to unfamiliar locations, you may be especially vulnerable to these scams. It would be easy to believe that the message is a genuine toll fee request that you need to attend to.
However, the texts are not from genuine toll operators, and the requested toll payments are not real.
Designed to Steal Credit Card Numbers
The links in these messages open scam websites that ask you to provide your credit card details, ostensibly to pay the supposed toll. They may also ask for other sensitive personal information. The fake sites feature seemingly genuine branding and logos but have no connection to the targeted toll operator.
Any information submitted on these fake sites will be harvested by criminals and used to commit credit card fraud and identity theft.
Don’t Click
If you receive one of these text messages, don’t click the link. If you think you may have an outstanding toll, visit the toll operator’s website and follow the payment instructions provided.
Screenshots of the scam texts:
Great advice! We have the same in the US. Since they know we are getting smarter and have been instructed to not click links the text will ask to “reply Y” and then copy & paste the url. Just as bad as clicking! Avoid!