Don't click on those road toll texts. Officials issue warnings about the smishing scam

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WASHINGTON (AP) — State officials are warning Americans not to respond to a surge of scam road toll collection texts.

The texts impersonating state road toll collection agencies attempt to get phone users to reveal financial information, such as credit or debit cards or bank accounts.

They're so-called smishing scams — a form of phishing that relies on SMS texts to trick people into sending money or share sensitive information.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said she received one purporting to be from the statewide GeauxPass toll system.

“It is a SCAM,” Murrill posted on Facebook this week. “If you ever receive a text that looks suspicious, be sure to never click on it. You don’t want your private information stolen by scammers.”

Even states that don't charge drivers tolls have noticed an uptick.

“We do not have tolls roads in Vermont but travelers may mistake these scams for actual toll operators in other states,” Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark said in a video public service announcement posted on Instagram.

Cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks said last week that a threat actor has registered over 10,000 domains for the scams. The scams are impersonating toll services and package delivery services in at least 10 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Ontario.

While Apple bans links in iPhone messages received from unknown senders, the scam attempts to bypass that protection by inviting users to reply with “Y” and reopen the text.

A warning last April from the FBI said the texts used nearly identical language falsely claiming that recipients have an unpaid or outstanding toll. Some threaten fines or suspended driving privileges if recipients don't pay up.

The FBI at the time asked those who received the scams to file a complaint with its IC3 internet crime complaint center and to also delete the texts. The FBI didn't immediately respond to a request for updated guidance Thursday.

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The story has been corrected to reflect that the FBI did not issue a fresh warning this week on road toll text scams. The FBI warning was issued in April 2024.