Unpaid Toll Text Scams Are Driving a $3.5 Billion Fraud Surge, the FTC Warns

A text arrives saying you owe an outstanding toll balance. Your vehicle registration will be suspended if you don't pay immediately. There's a link that appears to come from a real agency, maybe even bearing your state's toll system name.

For drivers across the U.S., this scenario is not hypothetical — and according to the Federal Trade Commission, it's a scam.

The FTC confirmed in May 2026 that fake toll payment texts are now the fastest-growing form of government imposter fraud in the country, contributing to a 40% spike in reports and pushing total imposter scam losses to $3.5 billion in 2025.^[1]

How fake toll text scams work

Fake unpaid toll text scams are a type of imposter scam in which fraudsters pose as government agencies, tech companies, or financial institutions. In this case, the scammers are posing as real toll collection agencies by name. EZ-Pass, SunPass, FasTrak, and TxTag are among the programs most commonly impersonated, according to the FTC.

The scam works the same way everywhere: a text message claims you have an unpaid toll balance and threatens consequences, typically late fees or immediate vehicle registration suspension, if you don't pay at once. It includes a link to pay your balance that takes you to a spoofed landing page. The Federal Communications Commission has flagged this tactic as "smishing," shorthand for SMS phishing.

Imposter scams have ranked as the top consumer fraud category reported to the FTC for nine consecutive years.

But the toll scam variant is accelerating. More than 1 million imposter scam reports were filed in 2025, a nearly 20% increase from the prior year, and fake toll payment texts in particular emerged as the leading driver of a 40% jump in government imposter scam reports.

Why these texts are so effective, and what's at stake if you click

Unpaid toll texts work because they combine something plausible with something urgent.

Pay-by-plate means you don't always know what you owe or when. It's easy to forget whether you went through a toll, missed a paper notice, or lost track of an unpaid balance from months ago. Combine that with the danger of getting your registration suspended, and now that $8 toll seems like a quick way to get everything settled without really thinking about it.

Once you fill out the form at the link, the scammers can harvest your information, including your payment card number, bank account information, and personal data, which can be used for identity theft, fraudulent charges, or sold through criminal networks.

The financial stakes are significant. According to AAC's analysis of FTC data, Americans lost $15.9 billion to fraud in 2025 — a $3 billion increase from the year before, even as the total number of fraud reports fell 15%. Fewer reports, more money lost per incident: scams like these are getting harder to spot, not easier.

What to do right now

If you received a suspicious toll text:

1. Don't click the link. Set it aside.
2. Go directly to your state's toll agency to check your balance. Find the official phone number or website through an independent search, not through anything in the text.
3. Report the message at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and forward it to 7726 (SPAM).

If a text like this nearly fooled you, it can happen again. Guardio screens links in your texts and browser in real time, blocking known phishing pages before they load. 

If you clicked the link and entered any information:

1. Contact your bank or card issuer immediately to report potential fraud and request a new card.
2. Place a fraud alert with all three credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to block new accounts from being opened in your name.
3. Report the message at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and forward it to 7726 (SPAM) if you haven't already.

If you entered personal or payment information, your data may already be circulating. OmniWatch monitors the dark web for your personal information, alerts you to data breaches, and covers you with scam protection insurance if something slips through. It can also scan suspicious texts directly to flag phishing attempts — the same kind of check that would have caught a message like this one.

Run a free dark web scan to see if your information has already surfaced.

Bottom line

Fake toll texts are not a new scheme, but they’re accelerating. The FTC has identified them as the primary driver behind a 40% rise in government imposter fraud reports, part of a broader imposter scam problem that cost Americans $3.5 billion in 2025. The strategy is consistent across every version: mimic a trusted agency, apply pressure, and collect before the target thinks to verify.

The defense is simple. Never click a link in an unsolicited text about money you owe to a government agency. Go directly to the source. Signing up for a reputable identity theft protection service is one of your best options for protecting your personal information.