Florida Attorney General's Office announced the shutdown of fraudulent SunPass websites
Attorney General John Guard said, 'These fraudulent SunPass websites preyed on unsuspecting Floridians and tourists, trying to steal personal information through fake billing notices.'
SunPass users were targeted with fake toll notices and phishing schemes, attempting to steal personal and financial information.
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Guard continues, 'We are taking swift action to shut down these sites and protect consumers. Floridians need to be cautious when receiving texts or emails claiming they owe money for tolls as it could be a scam.'
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The Florida Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution, in collaboration with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Cyber Fraud Analytical Support Team, will launch a new consumer protection resource named Scams at a Glance: SunPass Safety.
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Users are advised to:
• Verify the source by contacting SunPass or E-ZPass directly using the customer service numbers listed on the official websites;
• Check accounts for unpaid tolls using the official SunPass or E-ZPass portals, not by using the links in an unsolicited email or text message
• Know that messages threatening penalties if immediate payment is not made is probably a scam.
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USA Today
a day ago
- USA Today
She ignored 'scam' texts telling her she owed money. It backfired
Americans' inboxes face a daily deluge of unwanted spam. Phishing texts claiming that tolls haven't been paid or packages can't be delivered, calls from solicitors promising to erase debt, malware emails offering winnings from a sweepstakes that no one ever entered. The youngest and oldest among us, even, have developed a way to manage the sheer volume of messages, often by hitting 'delete' the moment something looks like it slipped past their spam filter. This instinct, however, comes with the risk of missing real, urgent messages, something one California resident learned the hard way. Ashley, 47, said she had been receiving texts from a number claiming to be The Toll Roads, the administrator of tolling in California, stating that the balance on her electronic toll payment method, FasTrak (similar to other systems like E-Z Pass, SunPass and TxTag), was getting low. With everyone from the federal government to the tolling agency itself advising that consumers delete phony text messages about owed tolls from their phones, she did just that. More: Toll road scam: More transportation authorities warn of fake texts in multiple states 'I assumed it was a scam and so I just kept deleting them because I was like, 'Oh, I'm not going to fall for that, I'm too smart to fall for that,'' she told USA TODAY. 'Prior to this, they had been communicating with me via email. I didn't even know that they had my phone number and so I assumed 100% it was a scam.' Ashley's reticence to click the link urging her to 'pay now' was hardly unfounded; warnings about a storm of phishing texts from scammers posing as toll authorities have been issued by agencies from the Federal Trade Commission to the FBI since January. Having received a plethora of obviously fake texts from senders claiming to be from UPS, FedEx, her bank and beyond, Ashley said she had no reason to believe these were any different. That was, until she finally got an email, reviewed by USA TODAY, with a big, bold deactivation notice. When 'scam' texts turn out to be real '[The email] said 'we've deactivated your account. You're going to be in flagrant violation if you use any of our toll roads ever again,'' Ashley said. 'And I just panicked because I use them all the time, you know.' It was then that she finally logged in, checked her account, and found it disconnected from the auto-refill feature that had previously been attached to her bank card. 'I went into my account and, indeed, it had been deactivated, it had been canceled and all of those text messages were, in fact, from them,' she said. Fortunately, she had not yet incurred a large unpaid balance of tolls and fees, but she said the idea that she could have been breaking the law or putting herself in a bad position without her knowledge troubled her. 'Anytime I get a text message that says 'you need to send money' or 'click on this link' and I don't know where it's from, I automatically delete it,' she said. 'I do wonder how businesses are going to be able to communicate with their customers via text. I'm not even sure that they can because there is so much fraud that I don't think I'm alone in not believing a text from a legitimate business.' Toll companies advise caution Michelle Kennedy, media relations manager for The Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA), which operates The Toll Roads, told USA TODAY in an email that while some account holders may receive texts about legitimate account issues, 'the majority' of text interactions reported to the agency are phishing scam-related. '[TCA] will send text messages to our accountholders ONLY if they opt in to receive messages – and only sent when we are unable to process payment on their account, replenishment amounts change or credit card expiration is nearing,' she said. Customers may also receive interactions from legitimate customer service representatives via email, phone call or physical mail. '[TCA] has several ways for customers to interact with The Toll Roads and check account status, establish accounts, manage accounts, pay tolls and resolve violations,' she said, including The Toll Roads app, statement emails and customer service phone lines and walk-in centers. How to spot a text message scam While Ashley was able to reactivate her account without paying a huge fee, an account that goes delinquent can result in hundreds and even thousands of dollars in penalties in other states. With scam attacks on iPhones and Androids surging by more than 700% in June alone, the need for caution doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon, leaving consumers with the question: how do I protect myself from malicious texts without missing real and important ones? Leyla Bilge, Global Head of Scam Research for the antivirus and cybersecurity software company Norton, has some tips. 'With scam messages growing more convincing, it's no longer enough to rely on instinct alone,' she said. 'Think of your inbox like a busy street. Some doors lead to real businesses, and others are traps. You wouldn't walk into a sketchy alley just because someone shouted your name, so treat suspicious messages the same way.' Bilge's checklist for verifying the legitimacy of a text includes a few easy-to-follow tips: 'When people understand how scams operate and feel equipped to verify messages safely, they're more likely to pause, think, and make the right call — without missing something important,' she said. 'The calmer and more confident we are, the harder it is for scammers to succeed.'
New York Post
2 days ago
- New York Post
Bryan Kohberger's phone records show his creepy loner lifestyle: ‘It's Bates Motel … just super eerie'
Quadruple killer Bryan Kohberger's phone records reveal creepy details about his loner lifestyle — with him obsessively texting and calling 'Mother' and 'Father' in a 'super eerie' way being likened to Norman Bates in 'Psycho.' The 30-year-old former criminology student used his devices to look up sick porn — searching 'raped,' 'forced,' 'passed out,' 'voyeur' and 'sleeping' — and take creepy selfies that he had no one to send to, according to digital forensic experts Jared and Heather Barnhart, who had been slated to testify at his trial before his surprise plea deal admitting the Idaho slayings. He would then call his parents all the time, even to fall asleep — while hardly having any friends, the experts revealed Thursday on NewsNation's 'Banfield.' Advertisement 'He had 18 personal contacts. Eighteen,' Heather Barnhart said. 4 Bryan Kohberger's phone records revealed creepy details about him, including who he called. KYLE GREEN/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock 'So think about all the people you meet and the hundreds of random numbers,' she said — while noting that even the 18 he had were impersonal entries, like ''girl I ran with,' 'second girl I ran with,' a contact, and in parentheses 'hair.'' Advertisement 'But then there was 'Mother' and 'Father' and his sister and just a few others. Eighteen,' the expert said. The killer would even stiltedly call his parents 'Mother' and 'Father' in text messages — which reminded the forensics experts of a big-screen 'Psycho.' 'It's Bates Motel,' Jared Barnhart said, referring to the setting of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film that then became the title of an A&E prequel in 2013. 'It is this feeling of that movie and 'Mother,' and it's just super eerie,' he said. Advertisement 4 Forensic experts Heather and Jared Barnhart told NewsNation that Kohberger only had 18 contacts in his phone. NewsNation The killer — who is serving four life sentences behind bars — was so attached to his parents that it seemed like he needed to speak with them just to fall asleep at night, Heather Barnhart explained. 'If one [parent] didn't respond, he would reach out to the other,' she said. 'He would constantly text them and call them, starting as early as five or six in the morning … And then also at night, to almost talk him into going to sleep and being able to rest.' 4 Kohberger also mostly only communicated with his parents who he eerily referred to as mother and father. Indiana State Police/Mega Advertisement The forensic pair also said that Kohberger would take selfies, sometimes shirtless and flexing his muscles, but wouldn't send them to anyone, including the infamous selfie he took of giving a thumbs up just hours after he carried out the gruesome murders. 'He didn't have friends to send this to,' Healther Barnhart said of the selfie, featuring Kohberger's distinctively bushy eyebrows, a trait one surviving victim used to describe him. 'Yeah, it was normal for him to take selfies and do nothing with them. They weren't sent to a person,' Jared Barnhart said. 4 Kohberger admitted to killing four University of Idaho students in their off-campus house in November 2022. Moscow Police Department Kohberger also searched disturbing terms on the internet, including 'raped,' 'forced,' 'passed out,' 'voyeur' and 'sleeping,' the Barnharts said. 'The easiest way to say it is that all of his terms were consistently around nonconsensual sex acts,' Jared Barnhart said. Kohberger tried to wipe his search history, but he didn't do a thorough enough job to conceal his sick curiosities, the pair said. The Barnharts — who run a forensics company called Cellebrite — had been prepared to testify at Kohberger's highly anticipated trial, which was originally scheduled to begin this month. Advertisement Kohberger, however, copped a plea deal weeks before the trial, which allowed him to avoid facing the death penalty and which his victims' families say deprived them of answers. Kohberger admitted to slaying Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle on Nov. 13, 2022 in their off-campus house in Moscow. After his sentencing, Kohberger was transferred from jail to a prison where his fellow inmates have been psychologically tormenting him by yelling into the vents that lead to his cell at all hours of the day.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Warning to parents over rise of youngsters on e-bikes
Police have warned parents that they could be forced to appear in court if they catch children riding illegal e-bikes. There have been increased reports in Sudbury of youths riding e-bikes and scooters, which is illegal on public streets and roads. Suffolk police appealed to parents and said: 'Take control of bikes and scooters and stop your children using them, these are a danger to your child due to the speeds that they can achieve and the danger element with no proper protective clothing to safeguard your child the risk to the members of public are also increased due to where these are being ridden.' Some of the riders have been identified by the police, and 'they can expect a knock at their door in the coming days". Police have had increased reports of illegal bikes and scooters like these. (Image: Suffolk police) A police officer was kicked by the rider of an e-bike in Haverhill. (Image: Sudbury and Haverhill Police) It comes after an incident in June where an officer was kicked by a cyclist. The incident happened on the Old Railway line footpath on June 4. A picture of the cyclist, who was riding a black Surron bike was released. The rider failed to stop for police and kicked the male officer as he went past. A police spokesman said the rider was driving at high speed, failed to comply with a give-way sign, and nearly collided with a police car. As part of their warning officers reminded parents that e-bikes and e-scooters are subject to the same laws as cars and motorbikes, with them needing insurance, tax and a licence. This mean drivers caught on an e-bike or e-scooter could be charged with offences including driving other than in accordance with a licence or no insurance. Suffolk police continued: 'We will be taking action against the riders of these by issuing traffic offence reports which will result in fines and court appearance as a parent if you are allowing your child to use these on the street. Do you want to pay the fines for your child?"
