OKLAHOMA CITY – On Monday, SunPass toll services sent Leslie Stambaugh a text message for the second time.
Stambaugh said, “It looked very real.” “But something in me told me this wasn’t right.”
The text message informed Stamaugh that she owed $19.42 and would have to pay it right away or face a $50 late fee. There was a link in the mail to settle the account.
“Because I don’t use it that often, I don’t have a pass,” Stambaugh said. I thought, “Maybe I was on the road and didn’t get a bill or just forgot to pay it. Maybe I do owe it.”
She called around and looked into it, though, and found out it was a scam.
Stambaugh said, “It kind of scared me.”
Sunshine Pass knows about the scam. A message that says “These messages were not sent by SunPass” plays when you call customer service. People who use SunPass are not texted to pay or take action on their account right away.
The scam is unfortunately very common.
Casey Farmer, Vice President of Marketing for the Better Business Bureau of Central Oklahoma, said, “Really what they want is to steal your personal information.”
Farmer said that toll companies usually send you a letter when you owe money.
Farmer explained, “They’ll send you a letter and give you a pretty long time from the time you use the toll road to pay it.”
The BBB says that if you get this kind of message, you should delete it, stop the number, never click on the link, and report the scam.
Stambaugh hopes that telling her story will keep people from falling for it.
He said, “It is wrong to scam people because they work hard for their money.” Watch out for your friend; I think it’s the right thing to do.
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority also had something to say about the scam:
“If you aren’t sure if a message that seems to come from PIKEPASS or the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority is real, here are some tips from the FBI:
- Use accepted, safe ways to check your account, like OTA’s websites at www.pikepass.com or www.platepay.com.
- You can talk to a customer service rep at 1-800-PIKEPASS from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
- Any smishing texts you get should be deleted or marked as spam or junk mail.
- The FBI says that if you click on any link or give out any information, you should immediately take steps to protect your personal information and bank accounts and dispute any charges that don’t make sense.
The OTA is working with a third-party vendor to use a text message effort to get people who owe money on their PIKEPASS and PlatePay accounts to pay it. These text messages are valid, and they will be marked with the name of the seller, Harris & Harris. Again, if you have any doubts about the authenticity of an OTA message, you can call our Customer Service line at 1-800-PIKEPASS during work hours or email the company at [email protected].
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center can be reached at www.ic3.gov by anyone who gets a harassing text message. That website is for law enforcement organizations to share information about crimes that happen on the Internet.
