A Kaspersky study identified 480 fake websites designed to trick Brazilian drivers into paying supposed debts from free-flow toll systems, which charge motorists without requiring them to stop at a booth.
The cybersecurity company said it found more than 80 additional fraudulent websites in the two weeks before Thursday’s report. The sites typically appear when drivers search online for ways to settle toll charges, including through sponsored search results and links shared on social media.
Brazil’s free-flow system uses roadside gantries equipped with cameras and electronic readers. Cameras identify license plates, while valid windshield tags allow toll operators to charge drivers automatically. Motorists without a tag generally have up to 30 days to pay.
According to Kaspersky, a driver who enters a license plate on one of the fake platforms is shown a supposed outstanding toll. The websites use real vehicle information and display a small amount consistent with a normal toll, making the charge appear credible. If the driver pays through Pix, Brazil’s instant-payment system, the money is sent to accounts controlled by intermediaries used to conceal the scammers’ identities.
Kaspersky did not find fake applications specifically impersonating Brazil’s official CNH do Brasil driver’s-license app. The government plans to use that app to centralize free-flow toll notifications and payment instructions. The company did, however, identify applications with similar names that could mislead motorists.
“Unifying the consultation and payment guidance for free-flow tolls in the CNH do Brasil app is very positive,” Fabio Assolini, Kaspersky’s lead security researcher, told Folha de S.Paulo. He said drivers previously had to find each concessionaire’s website themselves, creating an opening for fraud.
There are currently 93 free-flow toll points on privately operated highways, according to Brazil’s National Land Transport Agency (ANTT). The Transport Ministry says the system operates on 15 highways. Since its introduction, the National Traffic Secretariat says vehicles have passed through the gantries 200 million times.
The first three installations opened in March 2023 on the Rio-Santos highway in the Rio de Janeiro municipalities of Itaguaí, Mangaratiba and Paraty. The Brazilian Association of Highway Concessionaires estimates that the number of electronic toll points will double by the end of 2027.
The system has also generated disputes over late payments. In São Paulo, only 515 payments—0.2% of 267,000 penalties for unpaid electronic tolls—were reimbursed to drivers who settled after the deadline. A National Traffic Council decision issued in April suspended penalties for 200 days and gives affected motorists until Nov. 16 to pay outstanding free-flow tolls.
This is single-source reporting based on Folha de S.Paulo’s account of the Kaspersky study.
Sources: Folha de S.Paulo