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The latest ‘smishing’ scam blowing up your phone

Suspicious texts should be reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center

Katie Hawkinson
in Washington D.C.
Thursday 16 January 2025 07:06 GMT
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A new ‘smishing’ scam is on the rise, which aims to trick people into thinking they have an unpaid toll bill
A new ‘smishing’ scam is on the rise, which aims to trick people into thinking they have an unpaid toll bill (PA Archive)

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Have you recently received an odd text claiming you have an unpaid road toll bill?

You’re not alone.

Scads of people are reporting being targeted in so-called“smishing” scams designed to trick people into believing they have an outstanding toll bill, The Washington Post reports. The texts usually include a link to pay, but the form to be filled out ends up providing scammers with personal information.

The term “smishing” is a mash-up of “SMS” and “phishing,” and it refers to a scam carried out via cell phone text. Scammers often try to frighten targets into clicking the link by threatening excessive late fees if the bill isn’t paid.

“Your vehicle has an unpaid toll bill. To avoid excessive late fees on your bill, please settle it promptly,” states a typical text in the toll bill scam.

These scammers are trying to scare people into paying fake road tolls by threatening them with ‘excessive late fees’ if they don’t cooperate
These scammers are trying to scare people into paying fake road tolls by threatening them with ‘excessive late fees’ if they don’t cooperate (PA Archive)

People have reported these scams in several regions, including the Washington D.C.-Maryland-Virginia metro area, Rhode Island, New York, Massachusetts and California.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center is aware of the scams, which have been reported since March 2024.

Anyone receiving such a text should report it at www.ic3.gov. A local toll service’s website can confirm if such a text is fake.

The FBI also recommends that recipients delete the text from their phone and take steps to ensure their personal information and banking accounts are secure.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the only scam targeting people across the U.S.

Last summer, Apple warned iPhone users of a devastating smishing scam that allows hackers to steal their digital lives.

The scammers use texts that appear to be legitimate messages from Apple telling users that they need to urgently log in to their iCloud account to solve some sort of problem.

But the link attached is fake, and when victims log in, the scammers can gain full access to their iCloud account and everything stored inside.

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