T-L Photo/JOSIE BURKHART A text message appears on people’s phones as the latest scammers try to get people’s financial information and money by writing that they have unpaid toll bills.

PEOPLE may notice a text on their phones saying they have an unpaid toll bill, but officials warn it’s the latest scam.

People across the country who have driven recently and those who haven’t are all receiving text messages stating they owe money for an unpaid toll bill, and the Federal Trade Commission says it’s probably a scam. Scammers are pretending to be tolling agencies all across the country and sending texts demanding money, according to the FTC.

The FTC says this is a phishing scam — one in which people are getting random texts that say someone has an unpaid toll they need to pay immediately. The messages may also show a dollar amount for how much someone “owes” and include a link to a page to enter their bank or credit card information. The scammers are trying to get people’s money and steal personal information when someone clicks the link.

The FTC created a list of how to avoid these scam texts:

First, don’t click on any links or respond to unexpected texts.

Second, check to see if the text is legitimate by reaching out to the state’s tolling agency using a phone number or website you know is real and not the information from the text.

Lastly, report and delete unwanted text messages. You can use the phone’s “report junk” options to report unwanted texts to your messaging app or forward them to 7726 (SPAM). After someone reports the text, delete it.

Many Ohio Valley residents have received these unwanted texts recently, including a couple who said they traveled recently and thought the scam was real, so they paid it. Their bank account later got hacked, and a scammer drained their entire bank account. The couple is still waiting to get the bank report finalized after two weeks.

More than 200 Ohio Valley residents took to Facebook to share how they’ve received scam texts saying they have unpaid toll bills. Some people have gotten multiple such messages in recent weeks.

These texts may include content such as: “The Toll Roads Notice of Toll Evasion: You have an unpaid toll bill on your account. To avoid late fees, pay within 12 hours, or the late fees will be increased and reported to the DMV.”

The texts will add a link that says it will connect to Ohio Turnpike, for example. People should contact any listed agency directly without using the link to find out if the message is real.

Other texts could look like: “Important: Toll Payment Due. Your toll charges must be paid (date listed) to prevent suspension of vehicle registration, possible penalty fees, credit score impact. Timely payment helps you avoid extra costs. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Some people are also receiving texts that appear to come from E-Z Pass, an electronic toll collection system.

The FBI issued a warning last spring after receiving more than 2,000 complaints reporting scams representing toll road collection services. Now this year, the FTC says scammers are back at it, impersonating toll agencies. Some threaten fines or suspended driving privileges if recipients don’t pay up.

These are so-called smishing scams — a form of phishing that relies on SMS texts to trick people into sending money or sharing sensitive information.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said she received one purporting to be from the statewide GeauxPass toll system.

“It is a SCAM,” Murrill posted on Facebook this week. “If you ever receive a text that looks suspicious, be sure to never click on it. You don’t want your private information stolen by scammers.”

Even states that don’t charge drivers tolls have noticed an uptick.

“We do not have tolls roads in Vermont but travelers may mistake these scams for actual toll operators in other states,” Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark said in a video public service announcement posted on Instagram.

Cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks said last week that a threat actor has registered over 10,000 domains for the scams. The scams are impersonating toll services and package delivery services in at least 10 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Ontario.

While Apple bans links in iPhone messages received from unknown senders, the scam attempts to bypass that protection by inviting users to reply with “Y” and reopen the text.

AAA also gave a list of what to look for to test if the text is a scam, by checking for misspellings or grammatical errors, generic greetings, threatening language, suspicious links, messages from questionable email addresses, mismatch in toll agency and imitation of logos.

The agency recommends visiting the official toll agency’s website, logging into your account to check for outstanding payments and contacting customer service.

AAA finally says to contact the local toll agency to report the scam directly, file a complaint with the FTC and notify local law enforcement.

Overall, AAA says the most reliable way to verify a toll communication is by bypassing the text altogether, and consulting official channels can quickly confirm whether someone has unpaid toll charges.