Falling for a scam is easier than it sounds, especially when it’s delivered via text. It can happen to people of all ages. Fraudsters might pretend to be confirming a package delivery or alerting to a late payment.

Phishing is a scam sent via email, but another method of scamming via text message is called smishing. One woman from Central New York lost a lot of money, because she thought she was taking care of a bill.   

“I didn't even expect it to be a scam. The thought that it was never crossed my mind,” said Barbara Sawyer from Syracuse. She had recently taken a trip on the New York State Thruway when she got a text message.

What You Need To Know

  • Smishing is a text message scam, similar to phishing, which is an email scam

  • One woman lost more than $1,000 to a scam pretending to be the state Thruway Authority

  • Check twice before sharing personal information, especially with someone who has a phone number you don't know

“I knew my EZPass account was going to be short from the tolls, so I knew I was going to get a notification from EZPass, so I thought that's what it was. And I just went right into that link and the site came up. It was a New York State Thruway site. And you put your card information in it, and you make the payment and you're done,” said Sawyer.

The text she had received was a smishing scam, and it was a fake Thruway website she entered her information into.

“I never thought anything else of it until my bank account got hit,” said Sawyer.

That resulted in a big financial loss.

“I get a notification on my phone, ‘We just approved this withdrawal for this amount.' It was almost a $1,600 withdrawal. And I was like, 'what?' And I was at work. I was panicked. I'm like, 'I didn’t buy anything.' So I called the bank right away,” said Sawyer.

She said the false toll bill transaction appeared as an electric bicycle purchase on her account.

According to the Better Business Bureau’s scam tracker, there were more than 3,700 smishing incidents reported from 2021 to the beginning of 2024. The median amount lost was $200.

“This is something we really want to get the word out about, especially ahead of the holidays when we know a lot of people are going to be traveling,” said Katarina Schmieder, with the Better Business Bureau of Upstate New York. “So if you receive a suspicious link like this, it's really important not to click on it. The Thruway Authority has come out and said they'll never contact you like this. If there's ever an issue, typically they'll contact you via mail, but they're not going to send you a text message.”

Use caution when clicking on any link from a text message, especially from a number you don’t know.

“Don’t pay attention to the texts. Don't open them. Delete them, for God's sake,” said Sawyer.

Last year, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received reports of more than 298,000 phishing schemes.