Planning on travelling by car this holiday season? Be on the lookout for text messages pretending to be from toll road operators, including Linkt, claiming that you have an overdue toll road account or insufficient funds. It could be a scam.
The ACMA is seeing increased reports of toll road impersonation scams in the lead up to the holiday period. Some of these impersonation scams include links in the message to what looks like the websites of legitimate brands and businesses. This is a trick used by scammers to make the scam seem more convincing.
Do not click on any links or rely on the information in the message. If you are in any doubt about whether a message you have received about your toll road account is genuine, go to the toll road website or app to log in to your account and check your recent activity.
Linkt has more information about how to identify a legitimate message on its website, including examples of scam messages.
We encourage Australians to discuss how to identify scams with friends and family.
If you are a victim of a scam, contact your financial institution and phone provider to let them know what’s happened as quickly as possible.
If you’re concerned that your identity has been compromised or you’ve been a victim of a scam, contact your bank immediately and call IDCARE on 1800 595 160.
Scammers target everyone. Learn more about how to protect yourself from phone scams on the ACMA website and make a report to Scamwatch.