GovDelivery Exploited in Indiana Toll Payment Phishing Scam

Indiana residents were targeted by a phishing scam using the state government's email notification system, GovDelivery. Fake emails claiming unpaid tolls were sent from a compromised account.

The Indiana Office of Technology confirmed the incident and stated they are working with Granicus, the company behind GovDelivery, to halt further fraudulent communications. The state attributed the breach to a hacked contractor account and is investigating the possibility of a prior system compromise.

Granicus Confirms User Account Breach

Granicus spokesperson Sharon Rushen confirmed the incident stemmed from a compromised user account. While Granicus stated their systems were not directly breached, they did not disclose the number of recipients affected by the scam.

The state of Indiana indicated their contract with Granicus ended in December 2024, but claimed the company failed to remove their account. Granicus did not comment on this claim.

Fake Toll Notices: A Growing Threat

This scam aligns with a growing trend of fraudulent toll payment requests, as highlighted by the Federal Trade Commission. These scams often use official-looking emails and text messages to deceive victims into providing personal and financial information.

Scam Email Details

The fraudulent emails originated from an official Indiana government email address associated with the state's Emergency Operations Center. The emails falsely claimed recipients had unpaid tolls in Texas and threatened penalties for non-payment.

The emails included a disguised link appearing as a legitimate govdelivery.com address. However, this link redirected to a malicious website impersonating the Texas Department of Transport's TxTag toll collection service. This fake website attempted to collect personal information, including credit card details.

The malicious websites appear to be offline as of Tuesday morning on the U.S. east coast.

The Indiana government has not yet provided further comment.

For information on how to protect yourself from phishing scams, visit the Federal Trade Commission's website: FTC Consumer Alerts.