{"id":209557,"date":"2025-02-26T14:07:56","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T22:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/?p=209557"},"modified":"2025-02-27T09:20:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T17:20:51","slug":"fake-toll-road-scam-texts-are-everywhere-these-cities-are-the-most-targeted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/internet-security\/fake-toll-road-scam-texts-are-everywhere-these-cities-are-the-most-targeted\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake Toll Road Scam Texts are Everywhere. These Cities are The Most Targeted."},"content":{"rendered":"

Look both ways for a new form of scam that\u2019s on the rise, especially if you live in Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Orlando \u2014 fake toll road scams. They\u2019re the top five cities getting targeted by scammers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve uncovered plenty of these scams, and our research team at McAfee Labs has revealed a major uptick in them over the past few weeks. Fake toll road scams have nearly quadrupled at the end of February compared to where they were in January.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 1. A chart showing the increasing frequency and volume of toll road scam messages<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

What is a toll road scam?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

The scams play out like this:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ping. You get a text notification. It says you have an unpaid tab for tolls and that you need to pay right away. And like many scams, it contains a link where you can pay up. Of course, that takes you to a phishing site that asks for your payment info (and sometimes your driver\u2019s license number or even your Social Security number), which can lead to identity fraud and possibly identity theft.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s one example that our Labs team tracked down. Pay close attention to the link. It follows the form of a classic scammer trick by altering the address of a known company so that it looks legit.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 2. A screenshot showing an example of a Toll Roads scam text<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The scam messages come in multiple varieties, however, so it\u2019s important to stay vigilant of both your text and email inboxes. McAfee Labs found, for example, that some text messages and emails included PDFs while others included links using popular URL shortener services such as bit.ly, shorturl.at, qrco.de, and short.gy. The use of URL shorteners can also falsely create a sense of security when people recognize the popular format and don\u2019t see typos or suspicious parts of the full URL.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nFigure 3. A screenshot of a toll road scam text that urges recipients to open a PDF<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Additionally, these scammers put in a lot of effort to create legitimate-looking web pages and notices. Note how the following example does its best to look like branded digital letterhead. And, as usual, it uses urgent language about fines and legal action to help make sure you \u201cPay Now.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 4. An example of a PDF included in a scam toll road text message<\/span><\/i><\/b>
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Why so many toll road scams?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

They work. Scammers target their victims by matching them with the toll payment service in their city or state, which makes the scam look extra official. For example, a scammer would use an \u201cE-ZPass\u201d email to target someone in Orlando, our #5 city for toll road scams, which is one of the 19 states that E-ZPass serves. In southern California, victims get hit with phony texts from scammers posing as \u201cThe Toll Roads,\u201d which is a payment service in that region.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The apparent legitimacy combined with the emotional sense of urgency creates the perfect snare for scammers. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now, about those URLs to phishing sites. We mentioned that scammers take the URLs of known toll payment services and add some extra characters to them. In other cases, they\u2019ve latched on to the root term \u201cpaytoll\u201d as well. Our research team dug up several examples of fake toll sites, including:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. paytollbysuab[dot]top\/pay\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. thetollroads-paytollhmm[dot]world\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. thetollroads-paytollxtd[dot]world\/us\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. thetollroads-paytollwpc[dot]world\/us\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. thetollroads-paytollolno[dot]xin\/us\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. thetollroads-paytollktc[dot]world\/us\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. thetollroads-paytoll[dot]world\/us\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. paytollmit[dot]vip\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  9. paytollaqs[dot]vip\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  10. paytollcqb[dot]top\/ezdrivema\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Of course, don\u2019t follow any of those links. And something else about those links \u2014 you can see scammers dot-top, dot-vip, and dot-xin. These domains are cheap, available, and easy to purchase, which makes them attractive to scammers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    The cities facing the biggest influx of toll road scams<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

    According to McAfee Labs research, the following U.S. cities are experiencing the most of these scam texts:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Dallas, Texas <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Atlanta, Georgia <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Los Angeles, California <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. Chicago, Illinois <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    5. Orlando, Florida <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    6. Miami, Florida <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    7. San Antonio, Texas <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    8. Las Vegas, Nevada <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    9. Houston, Texas <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    10. Denver, Colorado<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    11. San Diego, California <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    12. Phoenix, Arizona <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    13. Seattle, Washington <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    14. Indianapolis, Indiana <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    15. Boardman, Ohio<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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      Figure 5. The top cities where toll road scams are most prevalent<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Avoiding toll road scams<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

      The scam has gotten so out of hand that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a warning about it. They offer up the following advice:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n