Scam Overview - Toll road text scams are a major annoyance and a significant revenue source for Chinese organized crime [3] - These scams have reportedly generated over $1 billion for crime groups in China over the past 3 years [2] - In September, Americans received a record high of over 330,000 toll scam messages in a single day [2] Scam Tactics - Scammers use phishing pages to steal credit card details, including name, address, and credit card information [4] - They require an authorization code to add the stolen credit card to their smartphone wallet [5][7] - Scammers have developed software to remotely use authenticated credit card information from China, enabling recruited shoppers in the victim's area to make purchases [8] Countermeasures and Impact - Google sued one of the makers of the phishing kits used in these scams, alleging that over 1 million people in at least 121 countries were deceived [9] - The best way to avoid being scammed is to stay alert and think through suspicious messages [10]