Arizona Residents Warned About New Toll Scam Texts
The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) is alerting the public about a text message scam targeting residents with false claims of unpaid toll fees. This fraudulent activity has been circulating for several weeks, causing confusion among recipients.
Steve Elliott from ADOT explained, “Yesterday we were made aware of a flavor of this that mentioned AZDOT and had part of our website in the bogus link.” Importantly, ADOT does not incorporate the letter ‘Z’ in its abbreviation, making this a clear sign of the scam.
Although the state of Arizona does not have toll highways, the scam attempts to convince recipients that they owe toll fees, often citing travel to other states as a reason. Elliott himself received such a message and traced it back to the Philippines, confirming its fraudulent nature.
ADOT has been inundated with calls from concerned citizens, prompting the agency to clarify that it does not solicit toll payments via text messages. “We understand the confusion,” Elliott stated. “We want people to be absolutely clear that this is not ADOT looking for toll money.”
To protect themselves, Arizonans are advised not to click on any links in these texts and to delete and report them as junk. Additionally, individuals can report these scams to the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
Elliott emphasized that these messages often originate from abroad and are characterized by broken English. “In terms of what ADOT recommends, it is what the FBI recommends and simply recognize these scams for what they are,” he advised.
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