Unpaid toll text: is it real or a scam?

How the unpaid toll scam works

The text names a toll service, often E-ZPass or your state’s toll agency, and says you owe a small amount. In the FBI’s April 2024 warning, the example was a balance of $12.51 with a $50.00 late fee if you didn’t pay through the link. The link leads to a page dressed up as the toll agency’s, which asks for your card details and sometimes personal information such as your driver’s license number. The FBI said its Internet Crime Complaint Center had received more than 2,000 complaints about these texts since early March 2024, from at least three states, and that the links are made to imitate each state’s toll service name.

The FTC repeated the warning on 17 January 2025, saying scammers were pretending to be tolling agencies “from coast to coast”, and that a text saying you owe money for unpaid tolls is probably a scam, whether you have driven through a toll recently or not. Canada’s Anti-Fraud Centre lists the same trick among its frauds of the holidays, because more people travel then.

What the toll agencies say they will and won’t do

Agencies differ, so the table below quotes how we confirmed each one. Several are clear that a payment text with a link is not theirs:

• TxDOT says TxTag does not send texts or emails about past-due tolls, and that any such message is a scam.
• The Maine Turnpike Authority says it does not send text messages asking for toll payments.
• Bay Area FasTrak says it does not ask for payment by text with a link to a website.
• The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority says it will never ask for personal information by text or email, and lists the numbers its real texts come from.
• E-ZPass New York’s Tolls by Mail says it will never send an email or contact you asking for sensitive personal information.

Some agencies do send genuine account alerts by text, for example E-ZPass Virginia publishes the number its notification texts come from. That is why the safest rule is about the link, not the text: whatever the message says, sign in by typing the agency’s address yourself.

How to use the link checker

Paste the link, or the whole text. The checker finds the link’s registrable domain, the part of a web address someone actually owns, using the Public Suffix List. Then it compares it with the official toll web addresses in the table, which we confirmed on each agency’s own website on 5 November 2026. A link to a toll agency’s real address shows as such; anything else, including a link that merely starts with a real address, is flagged. Shortened links are flagged too, because you can’t see where they go.

Our list isn’t every toll road in the country. If your agency isn’t in the table, the checker can only tell you the link doesn’t match any agency we confirmed; look up your agency yourself.

If you already paid or typed in your details

1. Call your card company or bank now, using the number on your card, and tell them the payment was a scam. The FBI also advises disputing any charges you don’t recognize and securing your financial accounts.
2. Report it. The FBI asks people to file a complaint at ic3.gov, including the phone number the text came from and the website it linked to. The FTC takes reports at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
3. Forward the text to 7726, or use your phone’s “Report junk” option, then delete it.
4. Watch your statements for more charges. Canada’s Anti-Fraud Centre warns of fake “recovery” offers that promise to get lost money back and then ask for more.

Outside the US

In the UK, the Dartford Crossing’s Dart Charge is paid on GOV.UK by midnight the day after you cross, or by phone on 0300 300 0120; the online service lives at an address ending in service.gov.uk. GOV.UK’s advice on scam texts is to forward them to 7726. The Mersey Gateway bridges use merseyflow.co.uk, Ireland’s M50 uses eflow.ie and Australia’s Linkt uses linkt.com.au, all confirmed on the operators’ own sites. In Canada, the Anti-Fraud Centre says genuine toll agencies won’t demand immediate payment by text message.

Common mistakes

• Reading the start of the link. “e-zpassny.com.something” is not E-ZPass New York. Read from the first single slash backwards.
• Replying “Y” so the link works. Evri warns this is a scammer’s trick to switch off your phone’s protection.
• Paying a small amount “to be safe”. The small sum is bait: the FTC says the page is after your bank or card details.