E-ZPass scam text

How to tell

In order. The first one holds even when the rest of the message looks completely real, which is the situation most people are actually in.

1. It wants the toll paid through a link in the message.

   A real toll balance sits in your own account with the state authority that issued your tag, where you can see it by logging in. The FTC’s instruction is to reach the state’s toll agency "using a phone number or website you know is real" rather than anything in the text. That holds even if you do have an E-ZPass tag, do drive tolled roads, and do suspect you owe something, which is what makes it the one tell worth remembering.

2. The sum is small and the consequence is large.

   The FTC describes these messages threatening late fees or suspension of your vehicle registration if you do not pay right away. A few dollars owed with a drastic threat attached is the shape of the thing: the amount is kept small so that paying feels cheaper than checking, and the threat is there to stop you checking at all.

3. It says "E-ZPass" and never names the authority that holds your account.

   E-ZPass is a shared system used by tolling authorities across many states, not a single company, so there is no central E-ZPass that could bill you. A message from the body that actually holds your account would come from that state authority under its own name. IC3 notes the scam links are built to imitate a state toll service name, which is easy to invent and names nobody you can hold to it.

4. The link is not an address you already associate with your tolling authority.

   IC3 reported links on lookalike domains such as a plausible-sounding turnpike toll services address. This is the weakest of the four, because a convincing lookalike is cheap and you have to read carefully to catch one. Use it to confirm, not to decide.

What E-ZPass actually does

If you want to know whether you owe a toll, find out by a route you already have. Log in to your E-ZPass account yourself through the state authority that issued your tag, or call the customer service number on your statement or on the tag itself. A genuine balance is visible there. Nothing in a text message is needed to find it, and no tolling authority needs you to use the link it supposedly sent you.

Where to report it

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center

File at ic3.gov. The IC3 asks for the phone number the text came from and the website address written in the text, so copy both out without opening the link.

The Federal Trade Commission

Report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, which is the FTC’s own reporting site.

Your mobile carrier

Forward the message to 7726, which spells SPAM on a keypad. It is free on every major carrier.