You might have gotten a plague of text messages claiming you need to make an urgent payment to SunPass. It’s not a new scam, but it certainly feels more common right now.
Thousands of users have received these messages, but SunPass said will not ask customers to make a payment via text or for customers to act urgently.
SunPass spokesperson Yasir Mercado SunPass is monitoring its system.
"Customer service is the highest priority for Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, and we continue to alert our customers to these types of scams," Mercado said.
He said SunPass has released additional messages on social media and call center lines to warn users.
Mercado told users to contact customer service if they have questions.
If SunPass is reaching out to its customers, it will text them from 786727 or it will email them from customerservice@sunpass.com or noreply@sunpass.com.
University of South Florida criminology associate professor of instruction Thomas Hyslip said it is smishing – a combination of short message system (SMS) and phishing.
In April, the FBI sent out a warning about the scam, directing users to submit a complaint to IC3.gov before deleting the message.
Hyslip said these scams can be cyclical. After one gets a lot of attention and stops working, smishers wait for the attention to die down before ramping up those calls and messages again.
A lot of scammers are using randomly generated numbers, so there is really no way to prevent the scams.
It’s all about the numbers for them, Hyslip said. Even if one percent of the hundreds of thousands of people they message fall for it, it’s a good day for the scammers.
But, Hyslip has some advice.
If you answer the call or text, scammers know your number is “live” and will continue to contact you.
"Ignore the message,” Hyslip said. “And, even if you think it's legitimate, ignore the message. Go to that company, bank, SunPass. Go to it yourself. Go to the website yourself or call them and ask."
You can send all unknown callers straight to voicemail, Hyslip said, but you run the risk of missing important, non-scam calls.
Another tactic is to add a sense of urgency to the messages. If customers are moved to react quickly, they are less likely to question it.
"Social engineering,” he said. “They're trying to scare you into acting and with SunPass - ‘Your account's past due, pay this right away.’ Take a second. Think to yourself when you get this text, 'Okay, what's the worst thing that can happen if I don't pay this bill right now?'"
If you do click the link or provide your credit card information, Hyslip said to change your login information, freeze your credit and contact your bank immediately to cancel your card.
