“FINAL NOTICE: You have an unpaid toll balance of $6.99. Pay today to avoid a $50 late fee and suspension of your license.” Then a link.

If you’ve had a text like this, you’re in good company. Toll payment texts have been one of the most common scams in the US for the past few years, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is still warning people about them. Similar texts turn up in the UK, claiming to be about a road charge or parking fine, and in Australia, claiming to be from a toll road company.

How to spot a toll scam text

  • A small amount and a big threat. A few dollars owed, plus a scary fee, fine or license suspension if you don’t pay today.
  • A deadline. “Pay within 24 hours.” Real toll companies send bills with time to pay.
  • A strange link. The web address is long, misspelled or ends in something odd. It isn’t the company’s official website.
  • It came out of the blue. You may not even have driven on a toll road lately.

Plain talk: smishing

“Smishing” is phishing by text message (SMS). The scammer’s text pretends to be from a company you trust, to get you to tap a link and type in card details.

What to do

  1. Don’t tap the link. Don’t reply either, not even “STOP”. Replying tells the scammer your number works.
  2. Check for yourself, if you’re worried. Open your toll company’s official app, or type its website address yourself, or call the number on a real bill. If you owe anything, you’ll see it there.
  3. Forward the text to 7726. In the US, UK and Canada this free number reports spam to your phone company, which helps block it.
  4. Delete the text.
  5. Report it. In the US, you can also report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. See where to report a scam for other countries.

Safety tip

The scam isn’t really about the $6.99. Once you type your card details into a fake page, criminals can use them for much bigger purchases.

If you already paid

  1. Call your bank or card company now, using the number on the back of your card.
  2. Tell them you paid a scam website. Ask them to block the card and send a new one.
  3. Watch your statements for a few weeks.
  4. Read our calm checklist for after you click a scam link.

Stop more scam texts reaching you

Your phone can filter texts from people who aren’t in your contacts, so fewer scams reach your main inbox. On an iPhone, see how the Unknown Senders filter works. On Android phones, the Messages app has a spam filter you can turn on in its settings.

Try this

Teach yourself one habit: don’t click, go direct. Whenever a text says you owe money, close it and check through the official app or website instead. That one habit beats almost every text scam.