We Fell for the Illinois Tollway Text Scam (Here’s How to Avoid It)

I never thought I would fall for a scam like this.

It's a hard lesson learned.

It must have been those hackers, scammers, or whatever you want to call them.

They must've listened to me throughout my life because I was almost sure this was the real deal.

Here's the story: I had a hunch that my son's transponder might be faulty, as I've had to cover his tolls when his device failed to register.

I asked him if he had been on the tollway in the past week, to which he said, "Yes."

I then shared the bad news with him: a text message from the Illinois Tollway telling me I owed them money.

It reads:

Illinois Toll way, our records indicate that your vehicle has an unpaid toll invoice. To avoid additional charges of $75.90 please settle your balance of $7.59 at --

It seemed legit.

Outside of the space between Toll and Way, we were on the hook for the fees.

So, while I addressed it with my son, a busy 4th of July weekend prevented me from paying the toll online.

We Fell for the Illinois Tollway Text Scam (Here's How to Avoid It)

Thankfully, it's a total scam. We dodged a bullet there.

From the Illinois Tollway:

The Illinois Tollway is advising I-PASS customers to disregard phishing texts being sent to their phones from “Illinois toll way” that detail a specific outstanding toll amount. If you receive a text and are unsure, please check your account online at www.illinoistollway.com or call our customer service center at 1-800-UC-IPASS (1-800-824-7277) from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.

Moments like these make me appreciate the long 4th of July weekend; it gave us the time to realize this was a scam.