Remember the flood of text messages we received in mid-2025 telling us we owned money for an unpaid toll?

Those tolls looked like they came from EZ Pass, Sunpass Toll or a similar sounding tollway payment system. These were good examples of phishing text messages – some people label them “smishing”. This went on for a couple of months – then stopped. Or did they?

A Clinton, Iowa, woman reported last week that crooks got into her bank account after she opened the link embedded with an EZ Pass smishing text she had received. This woman did some out-of-state travel over the Christmas holiday, so it seemed plausible to her that she perhaps missed a toll while driving. The text told her she owed $18.71.

When she opened the link, she saw a form displayed that required her to provide her debit card number and other personal information to make the payment. She filled out the form. A few days later, her bank called her to ask about eight debit card charges made to her account. The eight charges paid for everything from storage space rent to Tesla car charging.

So, it looks like the tollway fakes are back. But authorities report a lot more of these phishing texts. Just in the last week, we received warnings about:

• Texts offering information on your pending tax refund.
• Texts from IRS or state tax agencies warning you of unpaid taxes.
• Texts congratulating you on approval for your loan application.

The texts about taxes claim to originate from phony government agencies such as “Tax Resolution Oversight Department” or “Tax Mediation Agency”.

The basic goal of all these texts is to lure you into responding and engaging with the senders, who will work hard to steal personal information or money from you. Ignore them all. You can also report the texts by using the “report junk” option on your phone or forwarding the phony text to 7726 or “spam”.

Contact Seniors vs. Crime

Let me know about scams, fraud, or other crookedness you run across. Most of what I learn, I learn from you. Contact me at Seniors vs. Crime, Clinton County Sheriff’s Office, 563-242-9211, extension 4433, or email me at randymeier@gapa911.us.