Oklahoma Turnpike Authority warns of smishing text scams targeting Oklahomans

The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority is warning of a smishing text scam targeting Oklahomans.

OTA says bad actors from overseas are using the agency’s PIKEPASS logo and website to create the fake texts. The sender poses as a PIKEPASS representative, claiming you owe them unpaid tolls. The texts include a link to a scam website to pay your balance, which the OTA says you should not open.

“Opening the text is no harm to anybody, but if you click the link and upload your financial information, then these bad parties will have that information and be able to charge your credit card or bank statement,” warned Joe Echelle, OTA’s executive director.

Some texts also threaten consequences if you don't, including possible impoundment of your vehicle and court proceedings, which the OTA says the agency does not do.

“The Turnpike Authority doesn’t have the ability to impound any vehicles or anything like that,” explained Echelle. “They’re really trying to use some scare tactics in these text message scams, and we just really want everybody to be aware of it.”

OTA says it is working with the FBI to take down as many of these fake websites as quickly as it can. As of noon Wednesday, the agency says 264 scam websites and 146 websites were deactivated in the past week.

Echelle says the agency’s call center has been overwhelmed with calls related to the smishing scam. He says their customer service team has taken more than 20,000 calls over the last few weeks.

“It’s actually nearly overloaded our system with the number of calls coming in,” added Echelle. “We're able to take about 8,000 phone calls every day in our call center with our customer service team, and so this has really overloaded that team to where we can't handle normal day-to-day customers.”

If you are concerned about your toll balance, Echelle says PIKEPASS customers should verify statements through their online PIKEPASS accounts. Those without a PIKEPASS account can look up their license plate on the PlatePay website to check for tolls owed to OTA.

"We want to reassure turnpike customers that their personal information remains secure with OTA as these false text messages are not related to actual turnpike travel,” said Echelle.

OTA says these are some easy ways to identify fake texts:

1. Coming from an email or an international number.
2. The message is unexpected.
3. Spelling errors, poor grammar, or odd sentence structure.
4. Extreme urgency.
5. Links that are not verifiable or not from trusted sources.
6. Includes unexpected attachments.
7. Requires an opt-in in order to complete the action required.

If you receive a fake text, OTA says you should report it to the FBI’s IC3 at www.ic3.gov or forward the text to the Federal Trade Commission’s text line at 7726.