Passing on a warning sent from MassDOT:
January 9, 2025
Reminder: MassDOT Alerts Customers of EZDriveMA Scam
Do not open links in text messages which request payment
EZDriveMA and MassDOT will never request payment by text
BOSTON -The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is once again reminding customers to be mindful of text message-based scams, also known as smishing. The scammers are claiming to represent the tolling agency and requesting payment for unpaid tolls.
MassDOT urges customers to be cautious about email, text, and phone scams demanding payment of outstanding toll balances. Some attempts have been made to trick customers into sharing credit card numbers and other sensitive information by directing them to a website to pay their outstanding balances. MassDOT strongly encourages customers not to click the link contained in those messages.
MassDOT is underscoring that:
- EZDriveMA will never request payment by text.
- All links associated with EZDriveMA will include www.EZDriveMA.com
The EZDrive “smishing” scam is part of a series of smishing scams which the FBI is aware of. Smishing is when unscrupulous actors send deceptive text messages to get someone to reveal confidential or financial information.
The FBI recommends individuals that receive the fraudulent messages do the following:
- File a complaint with the IC3, www.ic3.gov and be sure to include:
a) the phone number from where the text originated.
b) 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 at (877) 627-7745.
- Delete any smishing texts received.
- If you clicked any link or provided your information, take efforts to secure your personal information and financial accounts. Dispute any unfamiliar charges.
MassDOT encourages all customers to stay alert to these types of scams and to contact EZDriveMA at www.EZDriveMA.com with any questions about notifications.
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WB Note: My second-hand understanding from news reports is that there is no data breach — the scammers do not have a list of MassDOT customers. They are random dialing in local area codes.
Thank you! I’ve encountered this too, in a recent October rent-a-car trip to CT.
When I log in to ezdrivema, it shows a banner about this, with this link,
https://www.ezdrivema.com/About-EzdriveMA/Smishing-Alert
My wife and also got similar sounding txts in the past week claiming we have unpaid parking tickets in Boston.
There seems to be a required field about sending money. If you didn’t send money (ie. you weren’t scammed) there isn’t a way to just report that the scammers were attempting a crime.
I got a text asking me for $6 and change, with a link, after I had already seen the scam on the news, so I just deleted it.
Thanks for the heads-up. Thanks for being a Democrat and supporting unions and workers. Please help the Party get back to both “big D” and “little d” basics so we may get out of our moribund state in under fifty years.
We could eliminate the tolls altogether. A significant amount of bloat is the state putting the burden onto taxpayers what should be faith organizations and private institutional and corporate self-interested giving. “If you build it the taxpayers will pay.”
https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/worcester/2013/06/28/decision-gas-tax-keep-mass/45155431007/
Another way to recognize this as a scam is the country code on the phone number the scammers gave – 63. That’s the Philippines, an unlikely place for the Mass DOT office.
I received this text today and then went to my EZ Pass account. I used the link provided by the site to file a report. Sherri, you can still report that you got this “smashing” text and were asked to give money. By reporting it, you can supposedly help track down the perpetrators.