Toll Road Scammers Target People By Text, Prompting Warnings

Scammers are targeting Americans nationwide with fake toll road texts, tricking unsuspecting victims into surrendering their financial information.

Key Insights

A widespread “smishing” scam is sending text messages claiming recipients owe money for unpaid road tolls, even targeting people in states without toll roads.
Scam texts impersonate legitimate toll services like FastTrak and E-Z Pass, threatening penalties such as license suspension if payments aren’t made immediately.
Last April, the FBI reported that it received over 2,000 complaints about these scams, which use deceptive links to steal credit card and banking information.
These types of scams have been ramping up again in recent months, prompting warnings.
Security experts recommend ignoring suspicious texts, verifying through official websites, and reporting incidents to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Digital Highway Robbery: How the Scam Works

The scheme begins with an urgent text message claiming you owe money for unpaid toll roads. These messages are sent to thousands of people regardless of whether they’ve recently traveled on toll roads or even live in states with tolling systems. The messages often contain threatening language about penalties, license suspension, or DMV reports if immediate payment isn’t made. What makes these scams particularly deceptive is their use of names mimicking legitimate toll collection agencies like FastTrak in California or E-Z Pass in New York and other eastern states.

The scammers employ sophisticated techniques to evade detection and filter systems. Rather than including clickable hyperlinks that might trigger security warnings, they provide text-based URLs that victims must copy and paste into their browsers. These fraudulent websites closely resemble official toll collection portals but with subtle differences in the domain names. Once on these sites, victims are prompted to enter their credit card or banking information, which is then harvested by criminals.

Did you receive a message that said you have unpaid tolls? STOP! It's likely a smishing scam. Don't click the link. Think to yourself, did you really travel a toll road recently and not pay? Don't become a scam victim: https://t.co/u72RMKyS6G pic.twitter.com/5cmRQHNkAt

— FBI Pittsburgh (@FBIPittsburgh) February 11, 2025

Officials Sound the Alarm

State officials have recently been warning citizens about this threat. The scam has become prevalent enough that even states without toll roads are issuing warnings to their residents. Cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks has identified over 10,000 domains registered specifically for these scams, highlighting the industrial scale of this criminal operation. The Federal Trade Commission took note of the threat, issuing a notice in January to warn consumers about the deceptive tactics being employed. This came after the FBI reported around 2,000 complaints about these types of scams back in April 2024.

Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark recently posted an announcement on Instagram to warn residents. “We do not have toll roads in Vermont but travelers may mistake these scams for actual toll operators in other states,” AG Clark said.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill was particularly direct in her assessment of messages claiming to be from the state’s GeauxPass toll system. “It is a SCAM,” she stated unequivocally, urging residents to delete any such messages immediately. The scam has been reported in many metropolitan areas across the United States in recent months, with no signs of slowing down.

I am issuing a Consumer Alert to Arkansans about the recent resurfacing of toll road scams.

Last year, Arkansas saw a new "smishing" scam—a combination of "SMS" (texts) and "phishing"— come to our state. In these scams, criminals attempt to steal consumers’ personal information… pic.twitter.com/HyZk3WDljT

— Attorney General Tim Griffin (@AGTimGriffin) February 27, 2025

Protecting Yourself from Digital Highway Robbery

Security experts and government officials have outlined several steps Americans can take to protect themselves from these increasingly common “smishing” attacks. The most important rule is to never click on links or respond to unexpected texts claiming to be from toll collection agencies. Instead, if you believe you might actually have unpaid tolls, contact the legitimate toll service directly using the official contact information from their verified website or your toll statement.

If you receive suspicious texts, report them using your phone’s “report junk” feature or forward them to 7726 (SPAM). Delete the message afterward. For those who believe they may have fallen victim to such a scam, immediate action is necessary. Contact your bank or credit card company to report any unauthorized charges, and consider filing a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Remember that legitimate toll operators typically send notices by mail rather than text message, making unexpected toll-related texts immediately suspicious.