Americans Flooded with Road Toll Scam Texts

Criminals are pretending to be from electronic toll-collection systems to steal data and money

Ken Budd,

Updated March 06, 2025

AARP

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En español

Published July 05, 2024

/ Updated March 06, 2025

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Gas prices and traffic jams aren’t the only headaches drivers face these days. Cybercriminals are now requesting that they pay fake highway tolls.

According to the FBI, the scam began gathering steam last spring and has exploded in recent months, as text messages requesting payment for (fake) unpaid tolls flood phones.

How the road toll scam works

People receive a text message that appears to be from a highway authority or a transponder company like E-ZPass, notifying them of supposedly unpaid tolls. The amounts are usually small: Some texts have used figures like $11.69 or $12.51. The scammers say you need to pay the toll to avoid a late fee of $50. The text includes a link for payment.

The FBI has warned that instead of sending the same text everywhere, scammers often tailor them to specific states. The link in the text “is created to impersonate the state’s toll service name, and phone numbers appear to change between states,” the FBI notes. So if you live in Pennsylvania, the website link might be something like https://myturnpiketollservices.com (a URL scammers have included in some of their texts).

But the scam isn't always targeted to state residents. People around the country, for instance, have received this message: “Pay your FastTrak Lane tolls by [date]. To avoid a fine and keep your license, you can pay at [link].” FasTrak — note the difference in spelling — is the name of California’s legitimate electronic toll system, which now offers a fraud alert on its site: “FasTrak does not request payment by text with a link to a website.”

For victims, it’s a triple whammy. Not only are they paying money they don’t owe, but the link may expose them to malware and identity theft, and criminals get access to the victim’s credit card number.

Road Toll Scams on the Rise

The Nevada Department of Transportation posted a warning on X on March 4: “A fake text is going around claiming you owe toll road fees in Nevada. Don’t fall for it! Nevada has no tolls on public roads.” Many other agencies have issued alerts, including the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission.

“I think this is going to get a lot more momentum,” says Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of The Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit focused on minimizing the risk of identity compromise and crime.. “For those of us who have been in this space for a long time, when we started hearing about it, our Spidey senses were tingling,” she adds. “We thought, This could be bad.”

Another troublesome twist: The unpaid toll amounts are small enough to seem reasonable — and believable.

“Some people think, ‘It’s such a small amount — I should go ahead and pay it so I don’t have to pay the extra $50,’” says Melanie McGovern, director of public relations and social media for the International Association of Better Business Bureaus.

Some aspects of the fraud are not sophisticated, however. Despite tailoring the text messages for specific states, the scammers appear to be casting a wide net, which can lead to mistakes. Michigan residents, for example, have received texts even though Michigan doesn’t have toll roads. McGovern’s husband received a text purportedly from SunPass, a Florida transponder system.

“We don’t live in Florida, and we don’t have vehicles there,” she says.

How to avoid the road toll scam

Understand the scam. This type of scam is what fraud experts call “smishing,” which is like phishing and refers to text messages sent to perpetrate fraud. The goal is to entice you to click a link or open a document that might download malware or allow criminals to access your personal information, credit card info or bank accounts.

Don’t click on the link. Never open a link in an email or text, especially if the message arrives unannounced. “If you didn’t initiate the communication, don’t engage directly,” Velasquez says. McGovern’s advice: “If you get this kind of text message, delete it.”

Go to the source. Instead of opening the link, contact the entity that supposedly sent it. If you received a text that appears to be from E-ZPass, for example, and you think the toll could be legit, go to its website or call its customer service line to confirm if the charge is legitimate.

Watch for emails. Scammers aren’t just using texts. In New York, E-ZPass holders have received emails asking them to download an invoice for unpaid tolls, according to an alert from the New York State Thruway Authority.

Report the scam. If you receive one of these texts, report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, IC3.gov. You can also report the fraud to the Better Business Bureau or your state’s attorney general’s office.

Listen to this episode of AARP's The Perfect Scam for more information on road toll scams.

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Ken Budd has written for National Geographic Traveler, Travel+Leisure, The Washington Post Magazine and many more. He is the author of a memoir, The Voluntourist.