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Massachusetts authorities are warning customers about an SMS scam targeting drivers, which claims they owe money for unpaid E-ZPass tolls through EZDriveMA. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) revealed earlier this month that scammers are posing as the tolling agency, requesting payment for alleged unpaid tolls.
The smishing campaign attempts to trick customers into sharing credit card numbers and other sensitive information by directing them to a fraudulent website to pay their supposed outstanding balances.
According to MassDOT, the scam first appeared back in June but made a comeback and surged again during the holiday season.
Several Massachusetts police departments are warning people to not fall victim to a "smishing" scam. According to police, hundreds of reports have come in of a text scammer requesting EZDrive Massachusetts customers to pay unpaid tolls.https://t.co/cWrqqx4ha1
— KATU News (@KATUNews) January 13, 2025
MassDOT is reminding customers not to click on links from unknown numbers or emails. They made it clear that they never send bills or any other information through text messages.
The EZDrive smishing scam is just one of many smishing scams the FBI is keeping an eye on. If you think you’ve received one of these scam texts, you can report it to the FBI through their Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
Toll smishing campaign across the US
According to a notice on the IC3 website, more than 2,000 complaints about smishing texts have been reported since March 2024, representing road toll collection services from at least three states.
In Florida, people reported getting phishing texts pretending to be from SunPass, the state’s prepaid toll program. In Texas, residents said they received messages about unpaid tolls supposedly from the North Texas Toll Authority. Similar scams have also been reported by residents in New Hampshire, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Washington.
SCAM ALERT: SMiShing Scam – We have recently learned of a SMS text message scam being presented as an attempt to collect tolls for the Congestion Relief Zone, formally known as the Central Business District Tolling Program. Some of these messages reference the “NY Toll Services”;… pic.twitter.com/OzCbwaq5O4
— Port Authority of NY & NJ (@PANYNJ) January 15, 2025
On Wednesday (Jan. 15), the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey also reported a smishing campaign, consistent with those reported in other states.
If you get a message like this, don't click the link. Transportation officials have alerted N.H. customers to an apparent "smishing" scam that's seemingly trying to imitate an E-ZPass toll invoice. It's fake. https://t.co/k67IPe6kge pic.twitter.com/P50teaqpSl
— Steven Porter (@reporterporter) November 20, 2024
The texts claim the recipient owes money for unpaid tolls and use almost the same wording every time. The “outstanding toll amount” is said to be consistent across the complaints reported to the IC3. However, the link in the text is designed to mimic the name of the state’s toll service, and the phone numbers seem to change depending on the state.
Krebs on Security reports security researcher Ford Merrill noted that SMS phishing attacks were pretending to be from toll road operators surged after the New Year. The spike happened around the time a Chinese cybercriminal group, known for selling advanced SMS phishing kits, started offering new phishing pages designed to mimic toll operators in different US states.
Merrill stated: “What we’re seeing with these tolls scams is just a continuation of the Chinese smishing groups rotating from package redelivery schemes to toll road scams.
“Every one of us by now is sick and tired of receiving these package smishing attacks, so now it’s a new twist on an existing scam.”
Featured image: Canva
