Arizona Department of Transportation Warning about a Text Scam

No, we’re not texting you about overdue tolls.

Here are just some of the clues that a text going around mentioning “AZDOT” and demanding money for tolls is a scam:

• The state highway system doesn’t have toll roads.
• The phone number associated with this text is from another country.
• The website address listed includes azdot.gov but continues into another domain that screams “scam.”
• We go by ADOT, not AZDOT, in second reference.
• And we tend to avoid broken English such as “Now Payment.”

This use of alleged toll fees is the latest incarnation of what the Federal Bureau of Investigation refers to as “smishing,” a social engineering attack in which cybercriminals try to trick people into sending money – in this case using road tolls as the reason.

So what can you do about this text? One option is seeing it as a scam and deleting it. On an iPhone, you can hit Report Junk. As FBI information linked above advises, make sure not to click on any links in a scam text.

You also can file a complaint with the federal Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov. You’ll need to include the phone number from which the text originated and the website listed within the text.