By BECKY RUTHERFORD
Los Alamos
They’re backkkkkk..well kinda, they did change it up a bit this time. Now they are claiming to come from the “New Mexico Motor Vehicle Administration”, I guess someone finally told them that NM does not in fact have any toll roads.
What is smishing? Smishing is phishing via SMS – text message, as opposed to phishing, which is when they try to trick you into giving up sensitive information via email attack.
These attacks started up again this year, and thousands of people have already reported the attacks.
In 2024 the FBI had warned about this scam, “Since early-March 2024, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has received over 2,000 complaints reporting smishing texts representing road toll collection service from at least three states,” the FBI explained in their April 12, 2024, notification.
The scam seems to be moving from state to state and has been hitting NM, which does not have road tolls, this spring. Palo Alto, a security firm, noted that scammers have registered 10,000+ domains as of last month for this new round of the scam.
That said, they are finally mixing things up a bit, maybe having Googled around enough to realize that NM has no toll roads. Brilliant!
The latest round of messages claim that the victim owes money for unpaid traffic tickets and seem to contain fairly similar language to older ones. The reported messages mention unpaid traffic tickets with a link, which usually isn’t clickable unless you copy and paste or reply. This round has even more menacing language than previous ones and tries to really scare recipients into clicking.
This round threatens users with a “report to the Motor Vehicle Administration’s illegal database”, suspension of vehicle registration and driving privileges, 35% service fee, and… wait for it… YOU WILL BE SUED. What a bunch of baloney.
The text above is a + two-digit area code, which tells me it is foreign, and when I google +63 I can see that it is a Philippines country code.
The domain was registered the day of the text and is no longer even making a pretext of trying to look like a legitimate company.
Technical scammer information:
- Domain: sim-bzw.icu
- Registered On: 2025-06-27
- Expires On: 2026-06-27
- Status: server transfer prohibited add period
- Name Servers: ns7.alidns.com, ns8.alidns.com
A root domain is the primary domain name, without subdomains or prefixes like “www,” and forms the foundation of a website’s address; you can see this was just registered last week (the day I received the text). The root domain is basically the part right before the “.icu”. New domains are always a pretty sure sign of a scam, you can look up domains yourself for free at sites like whois.com.
If you do receive any text messages with links claiming you owe money for unpaid tickets or tolls, DO NOT click the link, or interact in any way. Reach out directly to the state agency the text claims to be from, do not click the link or reply to the text or call the number!
You can block the number, but they will likely just switch to a different number for the next round of smishing messages.
The FBI in their 2024 alert had asked those who received one of these SMS phishing messages to:
- File a complaint with the IC3 at www.ic3.gov and include the scammer’s phone number and the website listed within the text.
- If the user has an account with the toll service, check their account using the toll service’s legitimate website.
- Contact the toll service’s customer service phone number, by looking it up via an internet search.
- Delete any smishing texts received.
- If they click any link or provide your information, make efforts to secure your personal information and financial accounts. They should also ensure that all unfamiliar charges are disputed immediately.
While with prior smishing campaigns, most NM residents were likely safe from this scam (no tolls in NM!) this new twist (unpaid traffic tickets) could definitely trick someone if they weren’t paying attention. Be aware of what’s out there and be alert! Don’t click that link or interact in any way, it’s a scam.
