by: Leslie Bonilla Muñiz
Indiana Capital Chronicle
Fraudulent messages purportedly sent by state agencies about collecting tolls are “scams,” the Indiana Office of Technology confirmed last week.
The office cautioned Hoosiers to “not click on any of the links,” noting that Indiana “does not send unpaid toll notifications via text or email messages.”
“A (former) contractor’s account was hacked and used to send those messages,” the office added.
Each scam message says it was sent “using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of” numerous state agencies. Some of the messages came purportedly from former Gov. Eric Holcomb.
Indiana previously used the platform, offered by Colorado-based Granicus, to manage digital communications with constituents. The contract for those services ended December 31— but Indiana’s account wasn’t removed, according to IOT.
The office said it’s “working with” the company “to stop any further communications.”
Agencies like the Department of Revenue and Alcohol & Tobacco Commission also warned subscribers to “ignore and delete” the spam messages, and apologized for the inconvenience.
Indiana has since switched over to elecronic communication products from California-based Salesforce.