Got a text about an unpaid toll? Here's what it is.
- A text says you owe a small unpaid toll, often around $12, with a link to "pay now" and a late-fee threat.
- It's a scam. Real toll agencies don't text you a link to collect payment.
- The tiny amount is bait. The real goal is your card number and personal details, entered on a fake copy of the toll website.
- Don't click the link. If you already entered card or personal info, follow the steps below right away.
This is a smishing scam. The toll is almost always fake, and the page behind the link is built to steal your card and identity. Paying the small "toll" hands your card details straight to the scammer, and entering personal information opens the door to identity theft.
Does this sound familiar?
Below are reconstructed examples of the messages people receive, recreated to show how they typically look on your phone. The toll service names are real services that scammers impersonate. Those agencies do not send these texts. (Illustrations, not real screenshots. Links and numbers are fictional.)
The toll service name changes by region, and so does the wording, but the structure stays the same: a small "toll," a deadline, a threat, and a link to a page that asks for your card.
How it works
This scam is fast. There's no recruiter and no slow build. From text to stolen card details can take under a minute, which is why the urgency matters so much to the people running it. (The screens below are illustrations of how these pages typically appear.)
Red flags to catch it early
None of these alone is proof. Several together means stop.
Toll agencies collect overdue tolls by mail to your registered address, not by texting you a payment link.4
A few dollars owed, plus a late fee, a deadline, or a warning about your license or registration. The pressure is the point.
"Pay $12.51 today to avoid a $50 late fee."
"Dear customer" or "Toll user" instead of your name. Real toll accounts know who you are.4
Odd endings like .vip, .top, or .xin, extra hyphens, a misspelled agency name, or a shortener like bit.ly hiding the real destination.5
The message comes from an international number, an email address, or a number with the wrong number of digits for your country.
Asking you to reply Y, tap a button, or click to "restore" or "verify" your account. Any response confirms your number is active.4
Cashless tolling is everywhere now, so a real unpaid toll is possible. Here's how to check without touching the text:
- Don't use the link or number in the message. Treat both as fake.
- Open the toll agency's real website yourself, by typing it in or searching for it, and log in to your account there.
- Or call the number on your transponder, your account statement, or the back of your toll device.
- If you do owe something, you can pay it safely through the real account. If you don't, you've lost nothing.
Already clicked or entered your details?
Need the steps by payment method? See what to do if you've been scammed.
How bad it is depends on how far you got
Work through whichever applies to you. Sooner is better, especially with card details.
Where to report it
For the full country guide - agencies, phone numbers, and what happens after you report - see how to report a scam by country.
How big is this problem?
Toll smishing barely existed before 2024. It emerged that spring and scaled into one of the most reported text scams in the country within months, and it has kept mutating since.
The first FBI alert, in April 2024, described texts using nearly identical wording and a small "outstanding toll amount" like $12.51, with a late-fee threat and a link impersonating the local toll service.1 By the end of the year the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center had logged tens of thousands of these complaints, and the texts had spread state to state across the country.2 The scam works because cashless tolling is now normal: plenty of people genuinely use E-ZPass, SunPass, FasTrak, or similar, and can't easily recall every toll they've passed through.
The texts are sent at enormous scale by organised operations, often from international numbers, using ready-made phishing kits. Security researchers note the same infrastructure churns out fake delivery, DMV, and unpaid-bill texts, swapping the disguise while keeping the mechanics.5 The fake sites frequently use link shorteners and unusual domain endings to look plausible at a glance. Some variants deliver the link via a QR code rather than a URL - see the QR code quishing guide for that pattern.5
The small dollar figure is deliberate. It's low enough that paying feels easier than checking, which is exactly the reaction the scam needs. But the toll is rarely the real prize. The card number and personal details you enter are worth far more, resold or reused for fraud and identity theft long after the first charge clears.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I check if I actually have an unpaid toll?
- Go directly to your state's official toll authority website (EZPass, SunPass, FasTrak, etc.) and log into your account. Don't use any link from the text message. If you don't have an account with a toll service in that state, the debt doesn't exist.
- What if I already entered my card details on the fake page?
- Contact your card issuer immediately to freeze the card and dispute any charges. Change any passwords you may have entered. Monitor your account for unauthorized charges. File a report at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
- Why do these texts come from foreign-looking numbers?
- Many unpaid toll text scams originate from overseas operations. They spoof US area codes or use foreign numbers depending on the operator. The message content, grammar, and URL are often the clearest indicators of fraud regardless of where the number appears to originate.
- How do I report a fake toll text?
- Forward the text to 7726 (SPAM). File a complaint with the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. The FBI's IC3 (ic3.gov) specifically asked the public to report these texts in a 2024 advisory. You can also report to your state's official toll authority.
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), "Smishing Scam Regarding Debt for Road Toll Services" (Public Service Announcement, April 2024). Source of the early complaint count, sample text and amount, and what-to-do guidance.
- FBI / IC3 2024 figures, as reported to the press in early 2025 (e.g. CNBC); New Jersey Cybersecurity & Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC) cites a precise figure of 59,271 toll-scam complaints in 2024. Full-year complaint volume.
- Federal Trade Commission, "New trends in reports of imposter scams" (May 2026). 40% rise in government-imposter reports, with overdue-toll texts named as a driver.
- Federal Communications Commission, "How to Spot and Avoid Toll Road Payment Scam Texts." Official guidance: how toll operators do and don't contact customers, red flags, and what to do.
- NJCCIC, "SMiShing at Scale: A Deep Dive into Toll Violation Text Scams," and allied security research. Scam infrastructure, impersonated agencies, link shorteners and unusual domains, shared kits across scam types.
We document recurring online scam patterns using primary sources: government agencies, law enforcement, and security researchers. The toll services named here are legitimate businesses being impersonated, not the source of these texts. Ads on this page do not influence our reporting. Read about how we research or who we are.