Scams and phishing
Text message scams: unpaid tolls, missed deliveries and fake banks
“You have an unpaid toll balance. Pay within 24 hours to avoid a fine.” Millions of people have received a text like this.
1 min readExplainer
The short version
Texts about tolls, parcels or blocked accounts are some of the most common scams today, and they increasingly reach work phones.
How it works
Text message phishing, sometimes called smishing, follows a few familiar scripts:
- An unpaid toll or parking fine, with a link to pay a small amount.
- A missed delivery, asking you to reschedule or pay a fee.
- A problem with your bank account, asking you to sign in to “unlock” it.
- A message from your boss, asking for a quick favor.
The links lead to convincing pages that collect card details or passwords. The amounts are kept small so paying feels easier than checking. In 2024, the FBI warned about a wave of texts claiming to be from toll road operators in several states.
Why it matters to a business
Phones are where work and personal life mix. A password typed into a fake page on a phone works just as well on a laptop, and phones rarely have the same protection as work computers.
What to do
- Do not tap links in unexpected texts. Open the toll, delivery or bank app or website yourself.
- Look at the sender. Real organizations rarely text from personal numbers or email addresses.
- Never enter a work password after following a text.
- Report and delete. Most phones let you report junk messages to your carrier.
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