OTA warning customers of Plate Pay text message scam

OKLAHOMA CITY ( KFOR ) – Listen up! A new scam is going around that will say you owe money for using Plate Pay on Oklahoma Turnpikes. KFOR spoke with one man that got this scam Thursday night and he’s warning everyone to be careful.

Caution is the word that came to mind for Scott Reams when he got the text message saying he owed just over $4 for using plate pay. The message also threatened late fees. However, he didn’t fall for it and Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) officials say you shouldn’t either.

“Extreme caution,” Reams said. “Do not fall for this stuff.”

The OTA calls the scam “extremely sophisticated.” Fortunately for Reams, he didn’t fall for it though after he got the message Thursday night.

“I noticed some things about it,” Reams said.

“This site mimicked our site and our domain name so closely, we think we’re worried for our customers,” Lisa Salim with the OTA said.

According to Salim, they have been hearing from customers about it for the last day and a half and are urging everyone to look closely. You can see the one in this particular story has the dollar sign on the wrong side of the fee cost, bad grammar and a website with a dash between plate and pay, whereas the real one does not have that.

“When you come to our site, you know, it’s the right one if it asks you to search by license plate,” Salim said. “If it asks you to search for tolls in any other manner, don’t click it.”

The OTA filed a complaint with the domestic registrar and was told it originated in Russia. The site has been taken down as of Friday morning, but they’re still being vigilant and they are asking you to do the same for the future.

“We don’t think this is the end,” Salim said.

“Just be careful, people. They want your money. They want you,” Reams said.

If you have questions, you can always check your account or call their service number. In the photo in this story, there are more resources with that number, the real websites and more on what you can do if you accidentally click the link.

There is also information on a current campaign that the OTA is working on with a third party vendor using text messages to collect delinquent balances and how you can tell the difference between that and a scam.

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