By Trish Svoboda

The Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA) was informed late Friday about a text message scam, known as smishing, targeting Kansas residents. Smishing is a combination of “SMS” and “phishing”, and is defined as a social engineering attack using fake text messages to trick people into downloading malware, sharing sensitive information, or sending money to cybercriminals.

This scam involves sending text messages requesting personal financial information to settle outstanding toll amounts. The texts claim to be from “Kansas Toll Services,” urging recipients to pay unpaid tolls to avoid late fees. The targeted phone numbers appear to be selected at random and are not specifically linked to any toll account or toll road usage.

Similar scams have been reported by toll agencies nationwide. The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported they have received over 2,000 complaints from at least three states, prompting the FBI to issue a public service announcement regarding the fraudulent SMS texting campaign.

Customers who receive an unsolicited text that appears to be from the KTA or another toll agency should avoid clicking any links. Instead, they are advised to file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov, which focuses on sharing information about internet crimes among law enforcement agencies.