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No, FasTrak did not send you a text to pay up. It’s a ‘smishing’ scam – KCRA Sacramento

Smishing is a phishing attempt by text message and is aimed at stealing your personal or credit card information.
Smishing is a phishing attempt by text message and is aimed at stealing your personal or credit card information.
Have you received a text message urging you to pay a FasTrak fee? It’s a scam.

The message looks like this: “In order to avoid excessive late fees and potential legal action on statements, please pay the fee in time.” It also includes a link to a website.
Instead of being a real notice to pay your bill, the message is a “smishing” scam. Smishing is a phishing attempt by text message aimed at stealing your personal or credit card information.
“FasTrak, the electronic toll collection system used statewide in California, does not request payment by text with a link to a website,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in issuing a consumer alert about the problem in July.
The FBI warned last April that the problem didn’t just impact California but was related to road toll services in at least three states. At the time, the FBI said its Internet Crime Complaint Center had received 2,000 complaints of smishing attempts since early March.
The FBI’s smishing example included a fake message warning of a small outstanding toll amount with a much higher late fee if the target didn’t pay up.
KCRA 3 has reached out to the FBI for an update on the number of recent complaints.
John Goodwin, a spokesperson with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Bay Area Toll Authority, said he wasn’t sure if there has been an increase in FasTrak text scams lately, but that it “is clear that a lot of California mobile phone customers have received fraudulent text messages over the past several weeks.”
He said that it’s been an ongoing problem since last February.
“The problem has bedeviled mobile phone customers and toll agencies alike almost constantly during this time,” he said. “But the messages change frequently. Broadly speaking, the scamsters’ spelling and syntax has improved, but remain imperfect.”
The website fastrak.org now includes a warning message to disregard phishing texts that detail a specific outstanding toll amount.
The FBI recommends that those who receive one of these texts file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and include the phone number where the text originated and the website that is listed with the text. You should then delete the text message.
If you clicked any link or provided your information, the FBI recommends making efforts to secure your personal information and financial accounts.
California’s attorney general says people can also file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission and his office.

His office also recommends the following tips for avoiding toll scams.
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