Toll Road Text Scams Affect Drivers and Non-Drivers Nationwide

February 12, 2025 TruthUSA

Individuals, whether drivers or not, across the country are falling victim to scams where fraudsters pose as toll road operators, jeopardizing their personal and financial data.

This surge of scams has led transportation officials, police, and consumer advocacy groups to issue alerts about the fraudulent activities.

On February 10, the Maryland Transportation Authority shared a caution on Facebook, warning residents to be cautious of counterfeit emails and texts claiming they have outstanding debts from toll use.

The agency noted that these scams are designed to collect sensitive information including credit card numbers, usernames, and passwords. They urged anyone who encounters such messages to report them to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

A statement from the center last spring indicated that since early March 2024, they have received over 2,000 reports related to deceptive texts impersonating toll road collection services from at least three different states.

The fraudulent messages typically inform recipients they owe a small sum for unpaid toll fees.

An example shared by the FBI states: “(State Toll Service Name): We’ve detected an outstanding toll fee of $12.51 on your account. To avoid a late fee of $50.00, visit https://myturnpiketollservices.com to clear your balance.”

The agency reported that the language used in these messages is strikingly similar across multiple complaints, with the only changes being the name of the state’s toll service and the corresponding phone numbers.

Security experts have linked the rise in these scams to organized criminal groups.

A report published on January 16 by Krebs on Security highlighted that the spike in SMS spam aligns with newly available features in a popular phishing toolkit from China, enabling fraudsters to impersonate toll road operators in various U.S. states.

Ford Merrill, a security researcher with SecAlliance, informed Krebs on Security that at least one Chinese cybercriminal organization has been marketing advanced SMS phishing kits and providing new phishing webpages to simulate toll operators.

Merrill noted that these groups are shifting from package redelivery scams to those related to toll roads.

“What we’re witnessing with these toll scams is simply a progression of Chinese smishing groups transitioning from package redelivery schemes to toll road scams,” Merrill explained. “Many of us are already tired of receiving these package smishing attacks, hence it’s a fresh twist on an existing scam.”

The Federal Trade Commission issued a alert last month, warning consumers to refrain from clicking on links in unexpected messages and to report and delete such texts.

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