The counterfeit website, www.geauxpass.info, was actually hosted on a server in Russia and had been designed to look just like the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development's legitimate toll tag website, www.geauxpass.com, according to Lt. Mark McCormick , spokesperson for the Kenner police.
Over the past few weeks, the scammers sent out text messages purportedly from GeauxPass, threatening fines if victims didn't fork over $3.75 in unpaid toll fees. The text messages included a link to the phony website, McCormick said.
GeauxPass officials sent out a warning to the public about the text messages last week.
But after three Kenner police detectives, including Detective Brad Ricke , received the texts, the department reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations to see what could be done, according to McCormick.
With help from HSI and the National Intellectual Property Rights center, Kenner police obtained a warrant through the 24th Judicial District Court to seize the fake web domain address, according to McCormick.
Now, when anyone tries to visit www.geauxpass.info, they are redirected to a server in the United States and shown an image indicating that the domain and IP address have been seized by federal and state authorities for computer fraud.
The texts are an example of a "smishing" scam, so named because it employs short message services (SMS). Just like email "phishing" scams, crooks send out messages hoping to entangle victims by tricking them into revealing their bank account or personal information.
Government agencies like GeauxPass will never just send a text message about unpaid fees. They will mail a letter to the home address where the tag is registered, McCormick said.
The Federal Trade Commission provided the following tips to avoid falling victim to smishing scams:
— Never click links, reply to text messages or call numbers you don't recognize.
— Do not respond, even if the message requests that you "text STOP" to end messages.
— Delete all suspicious texts.
— Make sure your smart device OS and security apps are updated to the latest version.
— Consider installing anti-malware software on your device for added security.
— Protect any sensitive personal information — bank accounts, health records, social media accounts, etc. — by using multi-factor authentication to access it.
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