Beware! New York State Police Warn Residents of This Latest Scam! Here’s What You Need to Know

New York State Police are warning residents and out-of-staters of a phishing scam that has been circulating around the Empire State like a roundabout. Here's what to look for.

According to the New York State Thruway Authority, there are 31 Interstate highways running through New York State. The main concentration of tolls are along the Thruway, I-90, 287 and I-95. You can't seem to escape paying the tolls, unless your bill is a scam.

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Many of us have received the "tolls by mail" bill and at first it isn't too bad. A few dollars to get to where I need to go? Fine. It's when you start getting those orange envelopes with the penalties included that it gets rough. Even worse if you were to pay a bill that you didn't owe.

If you have E-ZPass you will get a text to alert you to a bill that you have due. The official text from E-ZPass will start with EZPNY. Take a look at the examples of real vs. fake messages below.

The Federal Trade Commission defines a phishing scam as the following;

Phishing is a type of online scam that targets consumers by sending them an e-mail that appears to be from a well-known source – an internet service provider, a bank, or a mortgage company, for example. It asks the consumer to provide personal identifying information. Then a scammer uses the information to open new accounts, or invade the consumer’s existing accounts. - FTC