A text says you owe a toll or parking fine

If you owe a toll, the toll agency has it on file under your plate or your account. You can find it without the text.

If it’s happening now

You got the text and haven’t tapped anything. Don’t reply, not even Y or STOP. Use your phone’s Report Spam or Report Junk option, or forward the text to 7726. Then delete it. You’re done.

You want to know if you really owe something. Use the agency’s site from the list below, or the number on a bill that came by mail. Don’t search for it and tap the first result. Paid search results can be look-alike payment sites that add fees. If you do search, scroll past anything marked Sponsored.

The payment page is still open. Close it. If a code arrives from your bank, don’t type it anywhere. Already typed your card number? Call the number on the back of your card now. What to say is just below.

You’re at a parking meter with a QR code on it. Use the app or website printed on the meter’s sign, or pay at the meter itself. The FTC says scammers cover real codes with their own.

It’s a “final notice” from the DMV, or a court notice with a QR code. Same move. Go to the DMV’s or the court’s own site and look it up there.

What to say

• I typed my card number into a fake toll site from a text. Can you close this card, send me a new one with a new number, and dispute the charge? I need a case number.

• The site also had me type in a code you texted me. That code may have put my card in someone else's phone wallet. Can you check which phones and watches my card's on and take off any that aren't mine?

• I got a text about an unpaid toll on my plate. Can you tell me if I owe anything, and whether my account's been sent to a collection agency, and which one?

If something already left your hands

Call the number on the back of your card before anything else here, and ask for a case number. Screenshot the text and the page’s address before you delete anything.

Your card number. Ask them to close the card, send a new one with a new number, and dispute the payment. The amount doesn’t matter. They have the number, the expiration date, and the three digits on the back. More: I paid with a credit or debit card.

A code your bank texted. Say so on the same call. Fake toll pages usually use that code to add your card to Apple Pay or Google Wallet on a phone they hold. Ask the bank to take your card off any phone or watch you didn’t add. A new card alone may not do it: a 2024 UMass Amherst study found some major US banks carry a card in Apple Pay or Google Wallet over to the new card automatically. If someone calls about it saying they’re your bank, hang up and call the number on your card. Someone says they’re from your bank.

A password. If you made an account on the page, change that password everywhere else you used it.

Your Social Security number. Freeze your credit with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. It’s free. Steps: I gave out a code, password, or card number.

Your driver’s license number. Tell your state’s DMV. It may flag the number or have you get a new license.

Your name, address, or email. Nothing to call about. Expect scam messages that use them, and check anything that arrives through the company’s own app or site.

You only replied. They now know your number works, so expect more. On an iPhone you can’t use Report Spam after replying, so forward it to 7726 instead.

Once the bank knows, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and ic3.gov. Include the number or email address the text came from and the link it sent. Anyone who later offers to get your money back for a fee is running a second scam, including people who say they’re with the FBI, IC3, the FTC, or a law firm: Someone offers to get my money back.

What it looks like

In June you drove the Fernmont Turnpike without an E-ZPass or toll tag. Two bills came in the mail, the second with a late fee. You didn't pay either one.

(412) 555-0171

Text Message
Today 10:22 AM

Larkfield Collections: This is an attempt to collect a debt by a debt collector. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose. Re: Fernmont Turnpike toll invoices, plate ending 7KD, balance $38.40. Call 1-800-555-0128, Mon-Fri 8am-8pm ET. Reply STOP to opt out.

You do owe this. What do you do?

• Call the number in the text and pay
• Call the turnpike at the number on one of its letters, or on its site you type in yourself, and ask whether your bill went to collections and to whom
• Ignore it. Toll agencies don't text

Show the answers

• Wrong move Call the number in the text and pay If the collector is real, that number works. If the text is fake, it rings the scammer, who takes your card number over the phone. The text can't tell you which.
• Best move Call the turnpike at the number on one of its letters, or on its site you type in yourself, and ask whether your bill went to collections and to whom The turnpike knows who has your bill. If it's this collector, you'll get a number you can trust. If the turnpike has never heard of them, you've lost nothing.
• Wrong move Ignore it. Toll agencies don't text Some don't. But bills months overdue can go to collection agencies, and some of those text. Ignoring a real one lets the fees grow, and in Pennsylvania unpaid tolls can end in a suspended registration.

Some toll texts are real: from a collector on a bill months overdue, or from the agency to its own account holders. Check every one with the agency, using the number on its letter or its own site.

A downtown meter. Its printed sign says "Pay by app: Parkquill. Zone 4417." There's also a QR code on the front of the meter. You scan it and your phone opens this.

parkquill-zone.xyz/m/4417

Parkquill

Zone 4417 · Main St & 3rd Ave

License plate

Parking time: 2 hr · $4.00
Service fee: $0.35

Card number
MM/YY CVC

Pay $4.35

The page has the app's name and your zone number. What do you do?

• Pay here. The name and zone match the sign
• Check for the padlock in the address bar, then pay
• Close it. Open Parkquill from your phone's app store, or the app if you already have it, and enter zone 4417

Show the answers

• Wrong move Pay here. The name and zone match the sign The zone number is printed on the sign for anyone to read, and anyone can put it on a page. What matters is who stuck the code there, and the page can't tell you that.
• Wrong move Check for the padlock in the address bar, then pay The padlock means encrypted, not honest. Fake pages have one too.
• Best move Close it. Open Parkquill from your phone's app store, or the app if you already have it, and enter zone 4417 The app name and zone on the printed sign are what the city put there. Going in through the app skips the code. Paying at the meter with coins or a card works too.

You can't tell from the page who put a QR code on a meter. Use the app or site printed on the sign, or pay at the meter, and tell the city's parking office about the code.

Yesterday you paid a $6.99 toll from a text, then typed in a code your bank texted to finish the payment. Now you've called the number on the back of your card.

(312) 555-0136

Outgoing call · 9:40 AM

1. Rep Fernmont Bank, this is Marcus. What can I help with?
2. You I paid a toll on a site from a text yesterday. I think it was fake.
3. Rep Okay. I've closed your debit card ending 4471. A new card with a new number will arrive in five to seven business days, and I've opened a dispute for the $6.99.
4. Rep Is there anything else I can help with today?

What do you say?

• No, that's everything. The old number won't work anymore
• Tell him you also typed in a code from his bank, and ask him to remove your card from any phone or watch you didn't add
• Ask him to keep an eye on the account for a few months

Show the answers

• Wrong move No, that's everything. The old number won't work anymore The code you typed may have added your card to Apple Pay or Google Wallet on their phone. A 2024 UMass Amherst study found some major US banks move cards in a phone wallet over to the replacement card. Closing the old number may not touch it.
• Best move Tell him you also typed in a code from his bank, and ask him to remove your card from any phone or watch you didn't add That's the part a new card may not fix. Ask him to check which phones and watches your card is on, take off any that aren't yours, and put it in the case notes.
• Okay Ask him to keep an eye on the account for a few months Worth asking, but watching doesn't stop a phone wallet from paying. Removing it does.

If you typed a bank code into a fake page, a new card isn't the whole fix. Ask the bank to take your card off any phone or watch you didn't add.

What they’ll ask for

“Please reply Y, then exit the SMS and open it again to activate the link.” An iPhone turns off links in many messages from people who aren’t in your contacts. Replying turns the link back on and tells them your number works. Don’t.

“Your vehicle has an unpaid toll bill. Total amount: $6.99.” It names no road or plate, so it fits anyone who’s driven a toll road. Bills for tolls without an account start as letters to the address on your registration. Some agencies also text their own account holders, and bills months overdue can go to collection agencies that text. Check any of them with the agency.

“Your bank will send a one-time code to verify the payment.” On fake toll pages, that code usually lets them add your card to Apple Pay or Google Wallet on their own phone. Don’t enter it anywhere.

“Final Notice: Enforcement Penalties Begin,” with threats to suspend your registration and add a “35% service fee.” The DMV version. Unpaid tolls can end in a suspended registration in Pennsylvania, for one, but only after months of letters, not one text. California’s DMV says it doesn’t text payment links. Find your state’s DMV at usa.gov/state-motor-vehicle-services and check there.

“Notice of Default. Scan the QR code to settle your unpaid balance.” A picture of a court notice with a seal, a case number, and a hearing date. New York City’s Department of Finance says texts like this aren’t from the city or the state. A real parking ticket usually comes on paper, on your windshield or in the mail, with where to pay printed on it. Use that.

Where to check

These go to the agencies’ own sites. Not listed here? The agency’s address is on any bill it has mailed you.

The text mentions	Go to
E-ZPass, SunPass, Peach Pass, I-PASS, NC Quick Pass	e-zpassgroup.org, under Customer Service Centers. It lists each agency’s site.
FasTrak on Bay Area bridges	bayareafastrak.org
The Toll Roads	thetollroads.com
TxTag or EZ TAG	hctra.org. Harris County’s toll authority now runs TxTag accounts.
NTTA or TollTag	ntta.org
The DMV	usa.gov/state-motor-vehicle-services, then your state

What not to waste time on

Working out whether the link looks right. Fake addresses are made to look close to real ones: a letter swapped, or words like “turnpike” and “toll services” strung together. Going to the site yourself skips the question.