A phishing text message warning a legal threat and financial sanctions hit users and even non-command of Metro Expresslanes from the County of Los Angeles.
Spam has led to a flood of complaints from Metro Expresslanes users, who called the Metropolitan Transportation Authority de Los Angeles for verification and advice, the metropolitan authorities noted.
Metro officials said they had published a warning about fraudulent SMS on their home page as soon as they read the scam.
“The expresslanes system has not been hacked and no customer information has been compromised”, ” The message says.
Metro Expresslanes is limited tracks on highways 10 and 110 that motorists can use to speed up traffic on regular tracks. Users pay tolls based on dynamic prices that adjust depending on the level of traffic. The tolls are collected via a fastrak transponder mounted on the dashboard of a vehicle.
Metro could not confirm the number of messages sent, the number of complaints they received or when they thought the messages had been sent for the first time.
“Metro Expresslanes reminds customers that we never send text messages requiring sensitive information or requesting payment”, a Metro Read declaration. “If an SMS claims to be Metro Expresslanes concerning tolls or violations, do not answer the message, do not use any link in the message and use no contact information provided in the message.”
THE Federal Commerce Commission Classifies phishing as a type of scam in which targeted users receive communication such as an email or SMS which seems to come from a well-known source, such as a company or an agency.
The message asks the user to enter personal information that the crook will use to open a bank account, for example, or to cause another financial damage to individual vitiation.
The FTC also asks consumers to avoid responding to messages.
The messages of the scam in question have told receivers to pay their Fastrak invoice on a specific date in order to “avoid excessive delay costs and potential legal action on the bill”.
A phishing link is planned on which should not click on.
In several cases, the telephone number from which the text message comes is several figures longer than a 10-digit number based on the United States.
Metro officials said they thought the crooks targeted individuals through various codes in the region and hit the drivers and non-users of Fastrak.
There are 25 miles of expresslanes in the 10 and 110 highways, according to Metro, with 1.6 million transponders assigned to county drivers and 342.1 million trips made this year in early November.
The Fastrak Pass can also be used outside Los Angeles, as on highway 405 in the County of Orange, the 10 motorway in the county of San Bernardino, the 15 highway, which crosses the counties of San Bernardino and Riverside, and several other expressways.
As for the scams, they struck motorists in various regions of San Francisco In March at Sonoma County in April and San Diego in July.
Steeterty. J. Shebbooks. published a statement on July 1 Exhort the Californians not to click on the link in the texts.
“Scholars are often literally in our pockets, rightly so,” said Bonta. “Textual load scams are increasing and knowing what to search is an important way to protect consumers from these tactics.”
