She ignored 'scam' texts telling her she owed money. It backfired

USA Today

a day ago

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 TheTollRoads.com, 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.'