The EZ Pass Unpaid Toll Text Scam ("Smishing")
TL;DR: If you got a text claiming you owe money for an unpaid toll — whether it names EZ Pass, SunPass, FasTrak, or another agency — it's almost certainly a scam. Toll agencies don't collect balances by text, and the FBI's IC3 logged over 60,000 complaints about this exact campaign in a single year.
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This is one of the most widespread SMS phishing ("smishing") campaigns currently active in the US, and it's industrialized — not the work of a handful of individual scammers.
How the text reads
A message claims you have an outstanding toll balance, typically a small, believable amount (often $3.95–$12.55), and warns of a penalty — sometimes framed as a fee, sometimes as a suspended license — unless you pay through a provided link. The brand name changes by region: E-ZPass (20+ states), SunPass (Florida), FasTrak (California), I-Pass (Illinois), EZDriveMA (Massachusetts), TxTag (Texas), or a generic "toll services" name.
Why it doesn't matter whether you actually drove a toll road
Toll agencies have stated plainly that these campaigns aren't tied to real accounts — the targeted numbers are effectively random, sent in bulk with the expectation that a fraction of recipients will have driven a toll road recently and panic-click without checking.
How to spot it
- Toll agencies do not send text messages about your balance — this is the clearest, most consistent tell across every agency's own public statements.
- Some versions ask you to reply "Y" and then manually copy a link into your browser rather than tapping a clickable link directly — a workaround scammers use since it's an unusual step no legitimate sender would require.
- The link leads to a fake site designed to capture your card details and personal information, not an actual payment portal.
The scale behind it
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center logged more than 60,000 complaints about toll scams in a single recent year, and the campaign is understood to be powered by organized "phishing-as-a-service" operations that sell ready-made scam kits, rather than individual actors working alone.
What to do
- Delete the text without clicking the link.
- If you're genuinely unsure whether you owe a toll, check directly through the agency's official app or website — never through the link in the text.
- Report it to the FBI's IC3 (ic3.gov).
If you've already entered your card details
Contact your card issuer immediately to flag the card for potential fraud and monitor for unauthorized charges. See the complete international recovery guide for the rest of the sequence, including re-securing any other accounts that may share the same card or password. This is one entry in our running field guide to what's actually circulating right now — see Common Scams Right Now (2026): An International Field Guide for the rest.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does E-ZPass or my state toll agency actually text me about a balance?
No — toll agencies across the US have stated they do not send text messages about outstanding balances, which makes any such text automatically suspicious regardless of the amount claimed.
Does it matter if I haven't driven on a toll road recently?
No — the scam texts are sent in bulk to essentially random numbers, not tied to any real toll account or driving history.
How many people have reported this scam?
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center logged more than 60,000 complaints about toll text scams in a single recent year, and the volume has continued since.
What should I do if I already clicked the link and entered my card details?
Contact your card issuer immediately to flag the card for fraud, and monitor your statements closely for unauthorized charges.
Why do some versions ask me to reply 'Y' before sending a link?
This is a workaround to bypass automatic link-scanning protections on some phones — a legitimate sender has no reason to require this extra step.
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