Recently, I learned about scams in my class. We talked a lot about how to identify different types of scams and fraudulent messages, and the tactics scammers use to get them to work. It reminded me of the fraud I had recently experienced.
Over the summer, my friend and I traveled from Las Vegas to California to visit Disneyland. We used my car and drove there, while driving my friend and I realized that there were “FastTrak” lanes on the highways of California that had less traffic and was moving faster, but you had to pay a toll to get on these FastTrak lanes and that was something we did not want to spend, we laughed at the fact that people were spending money on impatience and went on our way.
We had a great time at Disneyland and drove back the next day. Weeks go by, and the FastTrak lanes are now a distant joke that my friend and I made once, until I get a text from a number I do not recognize. The text states that I used a FastTrak lane in California and did not pay the tolls, and if I did not pay soon, I would start to acquire fines and even legal action to take my license away.
This wording and quick call to action scared me; I did not want additional fines or my license to be taken away. I immediately called my friend and asked, “Did we get in the FastTrak lanes??” My friend thought for a little and spoke my thoughts into words. There was no way we could’ve used the lanes. I quickly explained the message I got to my friend and how worried I was and we evaluated and looked up the message together.
In evaluation, we realized that this text was a scam. We knew this through 3 facts, the first and most obvious, we did NOT use the FastTrak lanes, the second being the quick call to action the text message used was a tactic that most scammers use. This makes it so that the person being scammed does not have a lot of time to think, only to act out of fear; and the third fact being that when we looked up if this could be a scam we came across an article posted by California Toll Roads emphasizing that there was a scam going around and stating: “The Toll Roads do not send text messages to non-accountholders.”
Now I know that this scammer probably sent out millions of messages and I just so happened to be a person that was recently in California near the FastTrak lanes. All this scammer wanted was money and I am so grateful that I took the time to ask questions, evaluate, and research.
OMG the same exact thing happened to me. I genuinly thought it was real and paid through the link , quickly realized it was a scam and cancelled my card before they could get to it, but it was a close call!
Oh no! I’m so happy that you could get it cancelled; that is so scary.
Are you sure it was a scam??
Yes, please take my words as a warning…
Me and my mom also experienced a scam similar to this except it was on a phone call. It is very scary how much information they can know about you. This particular scammer knew my full name, birthday, and what seat on the plane I was supposed to be in for the flight I had booked. My mom did end up having to put her card on hold after she realized it was a scam. It was a scary experience because once we figured out it was a scam we hung up but the scammer kept calling back over and over again and left a voicemail saying “curse you and your daughter”.
Oh my gosh! This is the worst one I have heard. I am so happy you did not get hurt and curse the scammer.
Omg this happens to me all the time even though I don’t go on roadtrips. You’d think that they would try to do some research haha! This reminds me of when my coworker got scammed out of $1000 because he didn’t pause and think about what he was being asked to do. He just panicked and gave them the money. It is so important to ask questions and evaluate the situation.
This is crazy that you don’t even travel often and they still text you! Now I feel a little less crazy.
Fear is one of a scammer’s most useful tool and the main driver in social engineering. It’s very easy for someone to be coaxed into making bad decisions for themselves to benefit the scammer. Fear can easily lead someone to think irrationally and it’s unfortunate you came across that scam but i’m glad you’re not dumb to fall for it.