Those texts about Kansas Turnpike tolls aren’t real. What to know about widespread scam
Did you receive a text message from someone claiming to be Kansas Toll Services saying you have an outstanding balance that needs to be paid by clicking on a link?
If so, don’t click it. It’s a scam, the Kansas Turnpike Authority said.
The spam text sent out to random residents asks for their personal information, including credit cards and bank account numbers, to pay for overdue toll balances. It threatens a late fee of $50 if they don’t pay the outstanding balance of $11.69 via a link included in the text.
The turnpike authority was alerted of the scam Friday, and it said in a statement the state agency does not send text messages for toll payment.
It’s another in a string of scams happening around the United States. The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued an announcement about the scam texts in April.
Similar scams have been reported by toll agencies across the country since early April, causing the FBI to issue a public service announcement about the fraudulent SMS texting campaign. The FBI said they received more than 2,000 complaints reporting “smishing” texts falsely representing road toll collection service from at least three states since March.
Several states have issued warnings like California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
Residents who receive the text are asked to file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
What is smishing?
Smishing is defined by the FBI as “a social engineering attack using fake text messages to trick people into downloading malware, sharing sensitive information, or sending money to cybercriminals.”
“Smishing” combines “SMS” — or short message service — and “phishing.” Phishing is a form of trying to get private information from strangers by pretending to be a legitimate business or reputable person through a form of communication, like emails or texts, according to Phishing.org.
Common examples of phishing include people pretending to be tech support or sending fake invoices to demand a payment.
