BALTIMORE — If you traveled to the Eastern Shore or out-of-state for the holiday weekend, you likely encountered tolls on your drive, so a text about an outstanding balance isn't unusual, but this isn't a bill you should pay.
Fake text notifications are urging drivers to pay a small toll balance to avoid a $50 late fee. Thousands of people have reported receiving them, however, it's unclear how many have fallen victim and what they stand to lose.
Joan Goldsmith shared her recent experience on Facebook. “I got this text message this morning and I probably gave too much info before I realized IT IS A SCAM!! Who knows what will happen next!” Goldsmith wrote.
She told WMAR-2 News Mallory Sofastaii that the website asked for her name, phone number, driver’s license number, and email address. She filled out most of the information then noticed the website referenced outstanding Florida tolls.
“By the grace of God, I looked down and saw something about Florida and thought this isn’t right,” said Goldsmith, a Maryland driver, who then closed out the website and reported the text to Verizon.
“They’re casting a wide net and, you know, they only need to get lucky with a few to make it profitable,” said FBI Baltimore Supervisory Special Agent Keith Custer.
The FBI has received thousands of complaints about these toll scam text messages.
“How many states does this impact so far?” Sofastaii asked Custer.
“Pretty much all of them. So, what the scammers have done is they started with a web site purporting to be one state, the earliest ones that we saw were from Virginia. They've since moved on to Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, and several others.
And now it's in Maryland. The text states “Maryland toll services: We’ve noticed an outstanding balance of $11.69 on your record. To prevent a late fee of $50.00, please visit [website] to settle your invoice.”
Scammers intentionally request a low balance as a way in rather than an instant pay day.
“The victim will be directed to the website and then asked to, one, login to provide their username and password and then ask for credit card information and other personally identifiable information,” Custer said.
Typically, this is the same log-in information that applies to their online financial accounts.
“And once they have that username and password, the scammers will go ahead and try it across a whole host of different sites,” Custer added.
The FBI is working to identify the culprits. They've shut down some sites, but they keep popping up prompting the FBI to issue a public service announcement in April. At the time, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received over 2,000 complaints. In less than a month, Custer said complaints have exceeded 8,000.
According to the FBI, there were 163 IC3 reports filed by Maryland residents in April and May. Of those, 147 complaints came after mid-May.
“We were able to trace the initial websites being set up in March of this year, and then almost on a daily basis, a new domain name is incorporated sometimes using the same exact website, but a slightly different web address,” said Custer. “You may not be aware that you've fallen victim to it, so the true losses for a scam like this aren't going to be apparent for some time.”
If you did click the link and give away any information, report it to the FBI, freeze your credit, and change your log-ins for any financial accounts with the same username and password.
And if you have questions about any unpaid toll bills, go directly to DriveEZMD.com or call 1-888-321-6824, the phone number listed on their website.
Victims of identity theft can also find resources through the government’s website, IdentityTheft.gov.