Latest incarnation of social engineering attack mentions ‘AZDOT’

PHOENIX – No, the Arizona Department of Transportation isn’t texting you about overdue tolls. 

Here are just some of the clues that a text going around mentioning “AZDOT” and demanding money is a scam: 

1. The state highway system doesn’t have toll roads. 
2. The phone number associated with this text is from another country.
3. The website address listed includes azdot.gov but continues into another domain that screams “scam.”
4. We go by ADOT, not AZDOT, in second reference. 
5. We tend to avoid broken English such as “Now Payment.” 

This use of alleged toll fees is the latest incarnation of what the Federal Bureau of Investigation refers to as “smishing,” a social engineering attack in which cybercriminals try to trick people into sending money or sensitive information – in this case using road tolls as the reason.

So what can you do about this text? One option is seeing it as the scam it is and deleting it. On an iPhone, you can hit Report Junk. As FBI information linked above advises, make sure not to click on any links in a scam text.

You also can file a complaint with the federal Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov. You’ll need to include the phone number from which the text originated and the website listed within the text.