ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (WHAT THE TECH?) — Text scams are nothing new but this one is a little different and I received it just the other day; you may have it too.

The text message alerts the receiver of an unpaid toll fee. And to avoid late fees, you must pay within 12 hours or the unpaid bill will be reported to the DMV.

Even if you’ve not been on a Toll Road, you might be tempted to respond to make sure you’re not going to be paying a bill. Apple has a security feature that doesn’t allow unknown senders to include a link in a text message. This message asks you to reply by texting “Y” for yes.

Here’s where the scammers have gotten wise.

By responding, this circumvents Apple security by adding the sender to your list of contacts. If you follow the instructions and close the Messages app and reopen it, the text message will display a link for you to click for information. Clicking that link will take you to a website where it will ask you to sign in or create an account, giving the scammers access to your email. Since I waited a few days to click the link, the website had expired.

The website looks legit. At least legit enough to fool people. You see you owe $7 and you’re shown a page to enter your contact information. I made up that information and was then taken to a payment page asking for my credit card info. They’re not really interested in the $7. If you give them your credit card, they’ll take whatever they want. And along with your contact information, they could steal your identity.

If you receive one of these text messages, or any that ask you to respond, even those that ask you to text “stop” to no longer receive messages from the sender, delete and report it as junk. Don’t reply to texts you aren’t expecting. It’s another scam. And tell your friends and family.

A similar scam impersonates a message coming from apple warning your Apple ID has been compromised. You should never follow a link to a website in a text or message and then enter your username and password.

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