The FBI has issued a warning to Americans about a smishing scam involving road toll collection texts. Over 2,000 complaints have been received this month regarding these fraudulent messages. The texts, which impersonate state road toll collection agencies, aim to trick recipients into revealing financial details such as credit or debit card information or bank account details.
These scams, known as smishing, use SMS texts to deceive individuals into sending money or sharing sensitive information. The FBI reports that the scam is spreading across states, using similar language to falsely claim that recipients have unpaid tolls, which could lead to fines or the suspension of driving privileges.
The bureau advises those who receive such texts to report them to the IC3 internet crime complaint center at www.ic3.gov and delete the messages immediately. Cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks revealed last week that a threat actor has registered over 10,000 domains for these scams. These scams are impersonating toll services and package delivery services in at least 10 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Ontario.
Apple iPhones block links in messages from unknown senders; however, the scam attempts to bypass this protection by prompting users to reply with “Y” to reopen the text.
— news from The Associated Press
