Text message scam targeting Aussie drivers demand they pay thousands of dollars for unpaid tolls

Millions of Australian drivers have been told to remain vigilant for a clever scam asking they pay back thousands of dollars in tolls, as the toll company warns it will never request payment over text message.

Drivers in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne are receiving phoney texts from scammers pretending to be e-tag tolling company, Linkt, which is run by Transurban. 

‘Unpaid tolls in September lead to serious fines if overdue, please deal with it as soon as possible,’ the text message reads, before directing users to click an URL link. 

Another version of the text states: ‘Linkt: after verification, your bill is overdue. Please deal with it immediately, otherwise you will be fined.’ 

Linkt owner Transurban said the scam texts were being sent to the general public, including people who didn’t have an account with the toll company.

Millions of Australian drivers have been told to remain vigilant for a clever scam asking they pay back thousands of dollars in tolls (stock image)

‘After verification, your bill is overdue, please deal with it immediately, otherwise you will be fined’ the text message reads,  before directing users to click an URL link (pictured)

Customers have been advised to immediately delete any suspicious messages, do not click any links, and to report the scam on the Linkt website. 

Other texts tell drivers their account ‘banned’ or that their ‘vehicle information has not been updated for a long time and is now disabled’. 

In a statement in its website, Linkt said it would occasionally email or SMS customers asking them to update their personal details on the app or on the website. 

‘We will never ask you to update financial information by SMS, but we may give you the option to update your email address by replying to an SMS,’ it said. 

If a driver clicks the url, it opens a website which looks identical to the genuine site and, once credit card details are entered, scammers can drain bank accounts.

Drivers in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne are receiving phoney texts from scammers pretending to be from the toll company Linkt (stock image)

HOW TO AVOID THE TOLL SCAM

1. Transurban, which owns Linkt, and the NSW Government’s E-toll said they will never send texts asking for payment, so ignore them and block the number.

2. Never click on a link in a text or email to navigate to the Linkt or E-toll websites but enter the address manually or use the app. 

3. Ignore any messages that don’t look legitimate, for example with poor spelling or from an overseas number or that have strange links.

One driver posted a screenshot of a scam text to warn other users on Reddit. 

‘I got this yesterday, was thinking what the f*** I haven’t been anywhere with tolls for several months,’ one user said. 

‘Haha yeah I definitely didn’t click on it, but it did make me pause and think about where I’d driven lately,’ another said. 

‘I got one of these and I don’t even drive,’ a third wrote. 

Young mum Catherine Arrowsmith said she double-checked the website and it looked legitimate but she was quickly fleeced for thousands.

‘About two weeks later they went and spent about $8,000 in Victoria and I live in NSW,’ she told A Current Affair earlier this month. 

She is angry her bank didn’t flag the unusual transactions and put a hold on her card.

Linkt owner Transurban said the scam texts were being sent to the general public, including people who didn’t have an account with the toll company (stock image of a Linkt e-tag)

‘They didn’t put any stop on the cards. The transactions were for $2,500, another $900 at Coles, and another $900 at Woolies.’

‘I don’t think I’ve ever spent $900 at Coles,’ she said.

Pensioner Andrew Engel, 74, had $11,000 stolen in a series of smaller transactions of exactly a thousand dollars at the same Kmart store.

‘I go to bed at night it’s the last thing I think about, it’s the first thing I think about when I wake up because it’s such a large amount of money,’ he said.

His bank also didn’t put any stop on the card despite the transactions being very out of the ordinary for the decades-long customer.

While Ms Arrowsmith got about three-quarters of her money back through dispute resolution with her bank, Mr Engels remains out of pocket. 

STATEMENT FROM TRANSURBAN

We will never ask you to reply to an email or SMS with your financial information or personal information. If we need you to manage your account, we will always direct you to log into your account directly via linkt.com.au or the Linkt app.

Our Cyber Security Operations team is working with telecommunications providers to identify and block phone numbers sending these texts. We have reported nearly 2000 unique scam messages to telecommunications providers so that they can block these and protect our customers and the Australian public.

These scam texts are being sent to the general public, including people who may not have an account with Linkt.

If you receive a message from someone claiming to be Linkt or Transurban that doesn’t seem quite right, don’t click on the link. Some examples of what you may see in a scam text include incorrect spelling, or strange URLs.

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