Early Sunday morning on April 7, around 2 a.m. Kewanee resident Veronica Pyle was surprised when she received a text purporting to be from the State of Illinois. The text, received in the very early morning hours, was alerting her that she had an outstanding toll in the amount of $12.20 on her record.

Screenshot of deceptive text message received by Veronica Pyle early Sunday morning.

To avoid a late fee of $50, Pyle was directed to visit a website to settle her balance. What surprised Pyle more than the absurd hour that the state had decided to send the text to her was the fact that Pyle said she has never traveled on an Illinois tollway.

Suspecting a scam, Pyle refrained from clicking on the provided link and reached out to The Kewanee Voice to help substantiate her suspicions.

And sure enough, Pyle appears to be the victim of a phishing scam reported just last month by the Illinois Tollway.

The ongoing scam is targeting residents by warning of outstanding fees and penalties if they don’t pay up.

The Illinois Tollway issued a press release stating that some customers have been receiving these text messages with a link for payment. That link, the release states, is to a website to obtain the customer’s financial information.

I-PASS customers are urged to ignore the texts and report them to the State of Illinois’ consumer watchdog agency.

If driver’s receive such a text, check your account online at illinoistollway.com, or call customer service at 1-800-UC-IPASS (1-800-824-7277) on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.