According to the police advisory in Connecticut, there is a rampant new scam circulating that's taking aim at E-ZPass users.
A number of residents have already reported they've recently received a text message telling them they have unpaid tolls due and subsequently asking them to click the link to pay it.
While Connecticut itself doesn’t have any tolls, many drivers have an E-ZPass if they commute to New York, Boston, or anywhere else out of state.
"We’ve had scams of outstanding tax warrants, 'We need money.' We have this new scam of unpaid tolls. Anything unsolicited saying you owe money even though you don’t seem like you do … that’s a good chance that’s a scam,” Officer Christian Bruckhart with New Haven police said.
Some people News 8 spoke to said it’s one of several scams that have been circulating around lately.
"Telephone scams, there was another scam where I was supposed to download a barcode or something. And I didn’t pay attention to it," Paul Krakowsky said.
Meanwhile, Don Vaughan said lately he’s been targeted by "recruitment scams and so forth, so we have to be a little bit vigilant as consumers."
"Generally speaking, no tolling authorities will solicit payment in the form of a text message. Most automated systems that bill drivers after the fact will correspond by mail, which prompts the bill recipient to take action on their own," officials with state police said.
Connecticut Consumer Protection said if you receive a suspicious message, you should ask yourself some critical questions to determine whether or not it’s a scam.
"Take a step back and ask, 'Did I drive through any tolls? Am I expecting to receive a toll bill?' Second question: 'Does this tolling entity have my phone number?'" officials said.