'Ghost cars' with fake plates racking up hundreds in EZ Pass fines 

It's sad to think about how a news company has to get involved before most companies will do anything

EZ pass is the worst, most stubborn, dumbest bureaucratic agency to deal with. It's almost impossible to get someone with any intelligence to help you.

EZ pass is a joke they charge you a $50 penalty for a $0.50 unpaid toll

So we should start to sue EZ pass for false accusations

Thank you for covering this!!! EZPass reps asked me to go to DMV to get a driver’s abstract to prove it wasn’t me. I refuse to waste my time & money because of the ineptness of our authorities. Send it to collection, I don’t care! Crooks and impunity are driving this country into the ground.

EZPass is the biggest scam ever. Never auto replenish your account!

The ONLY problem is most collection companies just keep selling your "account" over and over and then you have to try to clear those as well..... Collection companies should be illegal on the same grounds as red light tickets are in some states.

Ezpass would’ve screwed those people over if it weren’t for the reporter. You’d also think that cops can check into those temp plates when they see em to check if they’re valid or not

Great job 7 on Your Side! Shame on EZ-Pass for not helping many more innocent victimized by these ghost cars.

Why do people have to go through such lengths though? What if Nina didn’t choose to cover this?

Ghost guns, zombie houses and now ghost cars Who put the children in charge of making up headlines 🙄

Tolls are a scam

Have they tried banning ghost cars? That won't stop criminals, but it makes politicians feel better.

You can also talk about the feed EZ PASS CHARGE YOU FROM 10 dollars if you don't pay $10 dollars it on time they charge you 100 dollars

This is what happens when people get tired of paying tolls after paying taxes.

Journalists have more power than they realize

Somebody at those Dealerships are involved by making duplicate Temporary Paper Tags to Sell to people with Stolen Cars.

My wife called ezpass few weeks back, took 5 minutes they deleted over 400 bucks in tolls and fines I had temp plates and didn't read my ezpass

Glad to see that some media outlets are actually doing work that benefits not just those individuals but society as a whole, this is what the press was supposed to be doing all along.

I have been through this twice. I live in Florida and have got 2 of those, one from Texas and the other from New Jersey. Both times I was told if the person who is reading the plate cannot make out the numbers, make them up. So much of the problem lies within the EZpass office to begin with if they are just going to make numbers up.

Sue EZ-pass for millions. They will "flag" those tags & smash the cars to bits when caught. I had to close my bank account over them "auto billing" my account too. 😡

It’s sad we have to call the news with clear evidence bring back real people to pay cash

Tolls shouldn't be a thing. Good for them for figuring out how to not support them.

It's sad this is happening to people living in the area. They know people need to drive so they can get over on them. I'm so happy Channel 7 handled this issue for these two unfortunate people. In May, we purchased a car from NJ & shipped it to NM. Someone scammed that temp tag so we started getting notices from EZPass & Tolls by Mail in June & July. I sent them copies of the NJ car sale invoice, transit bill with ship date prior to the violations, the actual temp registration w/NM address, current NM insurance info, and even a picture of the temp tag on our Subaru which clearly was not the Honda scam car in the photos. I got a second notice for new violations from EZPass days after I sent the first packet so I sent out the same info again. I have not heard from either of them since and the online accounts show no violations/zero balance. Annoying? You bet! But nothing more than that. The toll trolls certainly know about the issue. Why are they hassling innocent local people? Because they can.

We had to come all this way to find out paper plates are a bad idea…

The toll is 15 $ the violation fees are 585$

Ez pass rather forget their balance once things hit the news. Seems like they want things to remain quiet instead of investigate those issues. How many more people are on the hook for similar issues.

blocking lanes of highways from the public should be illegal

I had the same issues with FasTrak in California, however their appeal process is incredibly easy, just fill out a form online and they dismiss my charge in 3 business days every time.

The fact the ezpass no longer want to register the make and model of your car years ago says a lot. They wanna make you give up and pay the fines even though it’s not you and your not at fault.

what happens next week when the same scumbags keep running tolls?

Keep reports like this going. Put those shady companies on blast.

What about the fact that it’s 600 in tolls. I barely drive from nj to ny and in 3 months came out to over 300. This whole country from the food industry to taxes on everything you buy then some then tolls. Justice system is literally the unjust system now. Supreme Court passes all laws we don’t want and 3% of what 90% constituents want. I mean 600 300 500 for my dads ezpass and they concerned over ghost cars like ezpass doesn’t make 110 million a month. Whole world has lost its mind

They need to seriously change the EZ Pass Toll system! Biggest rip off in America! The 50 dollar fee is crazy!

It shouldn't be possible to drive your car into $600 worth of tolls in such a short amount of time. That's a crime in its self.

You have to call the news just to get people in government administrative positions to do their job🤦🏼

Happened to me as well when 1 of my license plates was stolen, it was a nightmare to fight

Why don’t they have cameras capture the persons driving the vehicles and arrest them

This happened to us several years ago. We lived several hundred miles away and still were accused. Frustrating part is the pic that is on the letter we received didn't even show the license plate clear enough so how can they even mail these out without a clear picture? Clearly is worse now.....

Turns out getting rid of toll booth operators is causing problems.

The victims have to work the hardest it seems.

Not an isolated incident. A friend of mine actually has an EZPass transponder and someone was able to transmit their code when traveling through tolls several states away from where he was. He has proof that he was at work and they didn't care. They claimed the transponder cannot be spoofed.

This wasn't a problem when there were toll collectors at each toll plaza

7 on your side saved the day. now, cancel your sleazy pass account and print out your own ghost plate.

Here in the Denver area, we have the same problem. We have a toll road called E-470 which is a loop highway surrounding about 3/4 of the metro area. Toll plazas along E-470 have been recording bogus templates too.

EZ PASS is obligated to match color and make of car in photo to DMV records within 30 days of a dispute report from any car owner with bogus billing (in these cases, the cars were blatantly NOT The owner of bonafide plates with completely different car make,, model, and color) can bring the proper EZPASS private vendor to court with penalties upon any bogus billing or wrongful collection reporting. The burden of proof is with EZPASS in front of the proper state attorney for review or even court if needed.

So sad, MTA you did not see this...?

Everybody stop using ezpass , eztrack and all the others and make them mail you your bridge toll bill.

EZ Pass needs some competition. This video shows how messed up EZ pass is and their management.

Moral of the story. When you get paper tags for a new car. Don’t mount them on your car. Take them off and carry them inside. If you get stopped tell them why they aren’t mounted. Easier to deal with a patrolman than this. Better yet, allow new car dealers to issue metal plates when a new car is purchased. There is no reason they can’t keep a supply on hand and issue them accordingly. If they can issue paper they can issue metal.

Thank you for your service local news journalists. Yall are more useful than any government parasite.

lol it’s 2022 and we’re still using temp paper plates.

imagine using ezpass instead of paying cash like a sane person.

And the root of the crime is probably the dealership hopefully the police pick up the investigation. People should only pick up A car from a dealer when they have the real plates

Anyone cought faking a licence plate to cheat the tolls should get 25 years in PRISON!!!

I try to fix plates with faded or scratched out license plates. Always carry a sharpie. Just retrace numbers and letters. Works on motorcycles too! Not just ez-pass, for red light and speed cameras too.

Need to take a picture of the whole car and start there

It happened to me. It took months to fix. The DMV doesnt care. Good Luck getting in touch with them at the capital too. Its a real issue...

Maybe don't charge people every time they wanna go from one town to the next then

This is why law enforcement shouldn't give tickets out on nothing but the evidence of a camera.

Can be corrected if you have people at the booth.

BTW 90% of the fee are the extra fees and fines thrown on by EZ Pass!!! I figured out a scam pulled on me: I paid for the Lincoln Tunnel with cash BUT I did not get a receipt ..admittedly my mistake which left me open to be scammed. The toll taker pocketed my money and pretended I went through like any car with no EZ pass, for which I got billed. So, if you go through and pay cash BE SURE TO GET A RECEIPT!

Abolish all tolls

There shouldn’t even be a 2nd party company collecting tolls. It should be directly through the state! If they sell it off and they collect money then the system isn’t needed. It only exists to feed itself!

I bet the criminals in these cases look similar 🤔

So if i use someone plates for the sports car and put them on a mini van, how can the system not tell that something is wrong? Aren't the plates supposed to basically identify the vehicle by make year and model?

It is scary but i am grateful whoever on the road is a safe courteous driver

It’s a sad thing when you have to contact a tv station to get someone to pay attention to a simple problem that is easy to fix.

I see people all the time not paying for the bus and subway and cops don’t do anything about it. Why should I pay tolls or traffic camera tickets?

Why does it take a News Corp to present the same documentation before EZPass take it seriously enough to do the right thing?

If they had toll booth operators, those drivers probably would have paid cash at the tolls. This wasn't as much of a problem until they got rid of all their workers

We have a problem here in Maryland with Marylanders having "Virginia" tags without ever having a residence.

Good work for helping them out.

Elizabeth River Tunnel in Va keeps sending me bills for a stolen plate that was connected with me years ago. Thank you for covering this. Elizabeth River tunnel in Virginia is a huge problem and they make no effort to determine that they bill you validly. The plate they bill me for is listed as stolen in North Carolina but they make no effort to check. They asked me for the same DMV records another commenter referenced and I sent them to ERT but they ignore what I send and continue to bill me. They've been sent data multiple times, I will end up having to hire a lawyer and sue them in order to make them stop. Their phone number and email support just results in the runaround that is scripted where they ask you for the same information and then do nothing when they receive it. I could use seven on my side!

I bet loads of these ghost plates are cops

Get rid of toll roads.

"Auto-Replenishing" 🤣🤣🤣

This just happened to me with my rental car from Hertz. 2 weeks after I returned it I get a notice saying I owed $67 for a toll in Pittsburgh. The best part is it was clocked at 7:16pm I picked my car up at 6pm 4.5hrs away. Took about a week of arguing to get my money baxk

Looks like Hochul is going to have to ban ghost cars too 😳.

California wants to make license plates digital, could you imagine how much worse that would be? Seriously though, EZ pass is so f-ed up.

news 7 by your side is free attorney service. this is the only way to get out of this mess

The get the parking authority with their license plate readers, have a bunch sit at the toll booths, with chase cars and catch them. Not rocket science! And those with smoked license plate covers, impound their cars too.

E-ZPass should offer up bounties for people who report on E-ZPass cheaters, say 10% of the fines collected.

Maybe if EZ Pass didn’t wrongfully overcharge legit users so frequently people wouldn’t try to scam the system. I had 31 “max tolls” at the same plaza in six months. Nothing changed on my vehicle, not pulling a trailer or anything stupid, no logical reason for the max tolls. Wonder how many people get over charged and don’t even know about it.

I also got $13.50c from Illinois toll Chicago as I am living in New York City and the date they mentions for violation that day I was admitted in Elmurst Hospital for my surgery. It’s so strange anyway I am going to call customer care. 👍

Awesome, the MTA & the PANY&NJ are the biggest crooks of them all ,if the plates don't match the vehicle, they shouldn't be billing them in the first place

We must have congress pass a ghost car ban. Go after the manufactures of ghost car parts that allow people to build their own ghost car.

So what happened with criminals?

Nationwide problem!

Yes absolutely happening

Fake plates is illegal. But dropping your tailgate when you drive on toll roads isn't faking a registration.

This is why I don't link my credit card to my plate number.

I left NY 6 years ago and someone somehow resurfaced my reported stolen NYS plate on his Audi and EZ PASS send me 1483$ toll bill with each violation 100$ fine. It’s in collection right now. I’m trying to fight it that I no longer has that plate.

Why should you have to pay tolls anyway.. that’s what taxes are for

i bet that collection record doesn't disappear from your credit history.

If you pass through the Golden Gate tolls at 60MPH, it misses the plate.

That $600 toll charges probably $50 in actual toll fees and rest is admin fees.

bring back cash at the tolls

Pretty sure this just happened to me today. I got billed for a set of plates for a car that i haven't had in three years. LOL.

Had my license plate stolen a few months back and they used it to on their car to drive thru the EZ pass. I got a bill in the mail over it, and had to fax them the police report 4x before EZ pass agreed to drop the fees.