Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office is warning the public about a nationwide phishing scam.
Scammers who are claiming to be from GeauxPass, Louisiana’s statewide toll system, are texting individuals saying they have an “Outstanding toll from your recent travel. If not paid soon, an additional charge will be applied to your account,” with a link underneath it.
“I received this text as well,” Murrill said in a press release. “It is a scam. If you ever receive a text that looks suspicious, be sure to never click on it. You don’t want your private information stolen by scammers.”
Murrill
| File photo
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development confirmed that GeauxPass never will ask for personal information via text, and released this additional information:
Scammers will direct responses to a web address that has a hyphen in the address, such as geauxpass-la.com or one that is misspelled by one letter, such as leaving out the "x" in GeauxPass and had a .net domain instead of .com.
Some examples of the incorrect web addresses the scammers have used are https//geaupass.net and https://geauxpass-la.com.
The correct website to access your GeauxPass account and contact the customer service team is www.geauxpass.com
Murrill’s office provided some other tips to help consumers to avoid the scam:
* If it looks suspicious, don’t click it.
* Government agencies do not ask for your personal information by phone, e-mail, or text. Do not give it.
* No legit government agency will call you about an outstanding warrant and ask for money.
* No government agency will ever ask for you to withdraw cash from the bank and deposit into a crypto ATM.
* Louisiana does not collect tolls by text.
Anyone with additional questions is asked to contact GeauxPass Customer Service by emailing customerservice@geauxpass.com or calling 866-662-8987.
If residents ever want to submit a consumer dispute, they are asked to reach out to Attorney General’s office Consumer Protection Division at https://aglizmurrill.com/ConsumerDispute.