You鈥檝e probably gotten the text or you know someone who has.
It says you have an overdue toll bill that needs to be paid. The various messages come with threats: You鈥檒l get hit with a fine, you鈥檒l get reported to the Department of Motor Vehicles, there will be 鈥渋mpacts鈥� to your driver鈥檚 license.
Don't click the link! Report it as junk!
This message, sent from the 鈥淭oll Roads Notice of Toll Evasion鈥� is a "smishing" scam, a term combining SMS (short message service) and phishing. The Texas Department of Transportation is warning folks to avoid falling for it.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important for people to know TxTag will never send emails or text messages to customers about payment reminders or past bill balances,鈥� Adam Hammons, TxDOT media relations director, said. 鈥淪o if you see anything like that, anything that says, 鈥楬ey you need to pay now, you have an overdue bill,鈥� that is most likely a scam.鈥�
If you do get a text from TxTag, it鈥檒l come from 22498.
The smishing scam isn鈥檛 new, but it has been ramping up in recent weeks. Hammons said the recent switch in toll transaction processing from TxTag to the Harris County Toll Road Authority could lead to confusion.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unfortunate timing because we are still in somewhat of a transition period going to the Harris County Toll Road Authority,鈥� he said. 鈥淧eople are still getting use to that and paying through them is a different process.鈥�
If you have driven on a toll road recently and think you have a bill that needs to be paid, contact the directly.
Hammons said TxDOT has been getting a lot of calls about the scam, so if it happens to you, save yourself from a wait on the customer service line. Instead, Hammons recommends filing a complaint with the FBI鈥檚 Internet Crime Center. You can do that by going to .
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