Texans have fallen victim to a scam attempt that has been rapidly spreading across the United States. In the last few weeks and months, scammers have been sending text messages to people claiming they have unpaid toll fees or unpaid fast/express lane fees, in states with paid fast/express lanes. Texas has now officially been reached by this scam attempt, with Texans from all over the state reporting the messages.
Texas has a number of toll roads still around the state.
Most are concentrated in the big cities of the state like Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. However, East Texas does have one of the largest in the state. Nonetheless, the texts are being sent to Texans all over the state, regardless of whether they live near toll roads or drive on them.
The scam attempt is hoping to worry people about unpaid fees.
If people fall for the scam, they are being prompted in the messages to click a link in the text which will take them to a payment portal. The payment system then steals the person’s banking information for the scammers to use. It is one of the many new scam attempts that is being done with a basis of high-pressure scares and fear tactics to find victims.
The scam is hoping to capitalize on the fact that toll roads are automatic now.
Before, toll roads would often have spots in which you would have to pay in person. However now, toll roads work with an automated system and in which cameras are installed on the road. The cameras take pictures of your license plate and creates charges based on your toll road usage. It then sends you a bill via mail. However, bills are never sent via text, in the way the scams suggest. Most Texas drivers have the EZ Pass installed on their vehicle’s dashboard that makes a payment automatically for the driver and they do not even receive bills.
The scam has gotten so widespread that the Texas Department of Transportation has issued a statement on the matter. They are telling people not to click any link whatsoever that is included in a text such as this.
Most often the texts read similarly to this:
“Your toll payment for TxTag Lane must be settled by March 30, 2025. To avoid fines and the suspension of your driving privileges, kindly pay by the due date. Pay here” followed by the bad link. If you get any message similar to this, ignore it and do not click on any link. Typically, the sender is a bogus phone number or email.
