Buncombe County has been made aware of a scam currently making the rounds. Please read the below information and always be careful about who you send money to.
From WLOS:
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — A statewide phone text scam has now apparently made its way to the Western part of North Carolina, as viewers have called News 13 about it.
The text sent says, "North Carolina Tolls Services, our records indicate that your vehicle has an unpaid toll invoice. To avoid additional charges of $76.00, please settle your balance of $7.60 at https://ncquickpasstollservices.com.
While the hyperlink may look legitimate, it's not, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation and the North Carolina Turnpike Authority. The NCDOT shared the photo of the text on its social media pages and had a link to the NCTA's news release.
According to that release, the NCTA said it was alerted that a text message-based scam, also known as smishing, was fraudulently claiming to represent tolling agencies from across the country.
"The scammers are claiming to represent the tolling agency and requesting payment for unpaid tolls," the NCTA said in the release. "The targeted phone numbers seem to be chosen at random and are not uniquely associated with an account or usage of toll roads."
The official NC Quick Pass website has an alert at the top of its webpage, warning customers of the scam. The alert says, "Receive a suspicious text? NC Quick Pass does not request payments through text." At the end of the alert is a link to the July 25 NCTA news release.
NC Quick Pass says on its website that it will never request payment by text and that all links associated with NC Quick Pass will include ncquickpass.com or secure.ncquickpass.com.
The NCTA news release said the smishing scam is part of a series of smishing scams that the FBI has been made aware of.
According to the release, the FBI recommends individuals that receive the fraudulent messages do the following:
- File a complaint with the IC3, www.ic3.gov, be sure to include: The phone number from where the text originated and The website listed within the text
- Check your account using the toll service's legitimate website.
- Contact the toll service's customer service phone number.
Delete any smishing texts received.