Have you received a text recently telling you that you have an outstanding balance on your TxTag account? If so, disregard it. 

I’ve received the text several times in the last few months. I’ll be honest with you – I almost fell for it the first time as I had just made a trip to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. However, I noticed it was from a Hotmail account, so I didn’t act on it. It’s a good thing I didn’t. 

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) warned drivers last week, saying they were aware of a scam targeting TxTag customers. As is usually the case with these types of scams, the scammer tries to invoke a sense of panic by saying the victim has a past-due balance and must act quickly to avoid late fees.

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TxTag will never contact you via email or text to pay an outstanding balance. Do not click on the link in the text. Instead, report the text to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. 

How to spot a text scam 

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) offers the following tips to spot a text scam: 

  • Beware of suspicious links 
  • Don’t trust unsolicited messages saying you won something you didn’t enter to win 
  • Look for grammar and spelling errors 
  • Double-check websites that appear to be real 
  • A message is personalized, but you don’t know the sender

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