Joan Schuck has a modest vehicle - a gray Hyundai Santa Fe.
It looks nothing like a police vehicle, yet she says she’s being billed when an apparent NYPD recruit vehicle - a white car looking nothing like hers but with a similar license plate - goes through a toll.
Joan said at the end of 2023, she started getting erroneous charges on her EZPass account.
She describes a frustrating process of hours of phone calls, ultimate adjustments and then more charges.
Joan said she didn’t know what was going on for more than a year - she only knew she hadn’t driven in the places listed in connection with the charges.
She said she took her payment information off of her account, and when her account was suspended, she got a Toll By Mail bill that showed her an image of the vehicle.
The vehicle, labeled “NYPD,” has a plate reading “6394,” and then to the right of that, a small “12” - which is believed to stand for the year of the vehicle.
Somehow, Schuck believes, the “12” was added to the “6394,” making it the exact number belonging to her vehicle.
The license plate of her Hyundai reads “639412."
Schuck refuses to pay the bills that she says are not related to her own trips and says several have now gone to collection.
She’s says she’s disabled, on a fixed income and that the stress makes everything worse.
She worries about driving any place she’ll encounter a toll, and when she does, she brings all of her documentation along for the ride for fear of getting pulled over and being accused of toll evasion.
She’s also afraid of what might happen to her credit.
Joan says she’s extremely worried because she received a notice that her car registration will be suspended if she didn’t pay the bill. She says she relies on her car for everything, and that it's a lifeline.
EZPass falls under the umbrella of the MTA.
The MTA tells News 12 it is actively investigating this.