FBI has issued a public service announcement regarding the constantly increasing cases of toll road smishing scams. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has received complaints from thousands of people flooded by bogus requests for toll road charges. The fraudulent activity is observed in multiple states, including California, where folks receive text messages from bad actors pretending to represent a toll road collection service. The message is malicious, and hackers are simply collecting sensitive personal info so they can commit crimes. 

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Reporting a Toll Road Smishing Scam

FBI wants people to help them prevent the thieves from continuing to operate, so the FBI is asking anyone who receives such texts to report them on IC3’s official website. People are encouraged to go to www.ic3.gov and hit the big red ‘File Complaint’ button. The FBI smishing text recipients are to include the phone number of the person who sent the suspected malicious message and the website listed in the smishing text. And they should delete the message from the phone to ensure no one accidentally clicks on the link. The FBI also wants people to visit the legitimate toll company’s website and report the impersonation attempt.

Steps to Take if You’ve Fallen Victim to a Smishing Scam

Suppose victims accidentally clicked on the link and/or entered any sensitive information. In that case, it is important to assume that the info shared with the hackers is already public. If a credit card number, SSN, address, or email were shared, the victim must monitor suspicious activity and inform the credit card issuer and credit bureaus that sensitive banking info has been compromised. Hackers might not immediately try to drain a bank account, as they get a lot of entries. So people sometimes have time to react. Victims should quickly inform their banking institution to avoid unfamiliar charges on their bank account. If there are any unfamiliar charges, sufferers need to make sure to dispute them immediately. 

How Cyber Protection Can Help You Avoid  Scams

The toll road smishing scams are just another way for scammers to try to steal hard-earned cash. Cybercriminals are always looking for new victims; sadly, this approach has proven lucrative. On the positive side, the best antivirus software solutions usually protect consumers from opening such malicious links. Cyber protection companies have vast databases of websites operating such scams. And the lists are constantly expanding as the cyber security experts monitor the internet 24/7. And even if you receive a message and feel tempted to click, you get alerted that you are entering an unsafe zone. The toll road scam would not succeed so easily for the fraudsters. If everyone had adequate cyber protection installed on their devices that could alert potential victims that they are about to get scammed.

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