People across the Gulf Coast and beyond are receiving a SunPass phishing scam.
The message claims to be from SunPass, which asks people to pay unpaid tolls.
Jennifer Shellenberger said she got a text from a 63 world area code that mentioned legal action if she didn't pay her toll.
She said she received the message twice. Once from a number and another time from an email address. Shellenberger said she deleted them right away, after realizing she doesn't have a SunPass account.
"I have LeeWay," she said. "I do not have SunPass, which was my other clue. I mainly travel in Lee County."
Jennifer Ayotte said she got the scam twice, too. Her message said there was a deadline to pay the fee by the next day.
"I would say now that it has happened to me, it left me feeling pretty exposed," Ayotte said. "There's something about your cell phone that just is so personal."
Gene Hoyts, FGCU computer science professor, said we may be getting these messages if we apply on different websites.
"If you apply for something for free, your number is going to be distributed out to somebody else," he said. "That's how they're making their money. A lot of these sites that you sign up for different things may tell you that they sell their information."
He said these scammers may be targeting people who have driven through Florida at some point in their lives.
"You've driven through one, whether it's the Lee tolls or SunPass or any other tolls that we have in the state of Florida," Hoyts said.
Hoyts said whether you think a message is fake or not, it's important to check if its valid. He said you can check the SunPass website or wait for a statement in the mail.
SunPass said you can report these messages to FTC.gov .