A warning about a new scam that could be in your pocket: Thieves are using text messages to target people on cellphones. The text messages claim the recipient has unpaid E-ZPass tolls. When users click on a link provided in the alert, that’s when the scammers attack. NBC New York’s Pat Battle reports.
New Jersey officials issued a warning about a new scam that could be buried in your pocket.
Thieves are reportedly using text messages to target people on their cell phones. The messages claim the person has unpaid E-ZPass tolls, and when users click on the link provided in the alert, that's when the scammers strike.
The text might look official at first glance, advising the person that the unpaid balance is usually just $6 or $7, but warning of excessive fines if it's not paid quickly.
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WATCH HERE"One out of five people, the FTC says, are scammed in imposter scams where they're phishing for information," said Dennis Niland, investigator with the Division of Consumer Affairs for Bergen and Passaic County. "It could be credit cards, date of birth, it could by any type of question they ask to get information. And it's been done by text and by email and also by phone."
The consumer affairs team put out an alert, as has New Jersey E-ZPass, warning users and advising they would never contact people by text or phone for an unpaid toll.
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Robert Pusa of Brooklyn received one of the scam texts.
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"I did get that text, and I deleted and put it into my junk folder. I did not click on any link or anything like that," he said.
NBC New York's Pat Battle got the message too.
"I got the text myself on Monday and for a split second I thought it might be legit because I'd been in a rental truck recently and wondered if I’d held the transponder up long enough for it be read. And then I took a closer look and I saw exactly what some other folks did," she said.
"I looked to see what the number was on the text -- it was weird, I don't know if it was out of the country or something." Pusa said.
It was out of the country. I knew something was up," he said.
Investigators with consumer affairs do regular outreach to warn people about these kind of scams and posted an alert on their Facebook page.
"There's different things you can do: you could put a fraud alert on your credit with the credit agencies and they also have a way to lock your credit where you can still use your credit cards but nobody can run your credit," Niland said.
Receive a message that gives you pause? Look for spelling and grammatical errors in the text, those are some telltale signs of something wrong.
