Jim Rossman: Gone smishing?

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I’ve seen a lot of buzz on the internet lately about text-based scams, also called smishing.

I have to admit I had not paid close attention to the details – until I received my own smishing message yesterday afternoon.

The text reads, “Pay your FastTrak Lane tolls by January 15, 2025. To avoid a fine and keep your license, you can pay at https://ezdrivema.com-qidngnvd.top/ (Please reply Y, then exit the text message and open it again to activate link or copy the link into your Safari browser and open it.)”

At first glance, one might think I am being tracked down for not paying a toll. It seems easy enough to follow the link and just pay the bill and be done.

In reality, I have a toll tag for my state, and the billing is working just fine, thank you. This is simply a scam.

If you look at the address link they include, it starts with ezdrivema.com, which is a legitimate website for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s all electronic tolling program. Indeed, there you can pay tolls, including paying for violations, but the last part of the website address (the hyphen and the letters ending with .top) means the website destination is not ezdrivema.com, but a malicious site. The address in the text does not end with .com – it ends with .top, which means that’s not the official state web page.

In fact, by the time I got the text and opened the site, the page had already been taken down. I can only assume the scammers change the site quite often to try to stay ahead of the law.

My message didn’t include an amount owed, but in looking online, others who have followed the address say the site reported they only owed a small amount – less than $10.

I’m guessing the small amount owed is designed to get you to take out your credit card and just pay it, but that payment page will most certainly NOT be secure. In fact, they’re likely not even running the card to charge you the $6.99 or whatever amount they say you owe. You’re just handing the scammers your credit card information.

If you do get a similar message, never click on the link and certainly don’t copy and paste any addresses. If you really owe money for tolls, go visit the state or toll road’s website directly and follow their directions to check on your status.

If you do visit ezdrivema, you’ll see a yellow banner at the top of the front page warning you about the smishing involving their website address. Their tips to stay safe say EZDriveMA will never request payment by text and all links associated with their site will include www.ezdrivema.com.