August 13, 2014 - If you regularly use toll roads anywhere in the US, there is a good chance that you have had to deal with EZ Pass. If you have one of their transponders installed in your car, your account simply get debited for each toll registered to you. But if you don't have a transponder and you use a toll road, you may get a notice in the mail stating that you owe money for your use. Now, scam artists are sending out mail messages that appear to come from EZ Pass in an attempt to charge for bogus tolls.

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One of the people in our Nebraska office actually received one of these scam email messages. The message itself looks quite official. It has the EZ Pass logo on it and claims to come from their service center. The content of the message reads, " Dear customer, You have not paid for driving on a toll road. This invoice is sent repeatedly, please service your debt in the shortest possible time." After that, a link is provided with the words, "Get Invoice".

There is absolutely nothing to prevent this scam from spreading across the country rapidly. But there are some things you can do to protect yourself.

First, you need to know that EZ Pass notices for owed tolls are sent via the US Post Office. I know because I just received one.

Second, toll notices are very specific. They tell you what day you used the toll road and provide a toll amount.

Third, notices are not sent to "Dear Customer." They are sent to registered owner of the vehicle.

If you receive a message like the one described here, delete it immediately. Do not click on any links as that could lead to malicious software being installed on your computer. And do not provide any credit card or banking information to make payment. This could lead to fraud or identity theft.

byJim Malmberg

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