HIGH government impersonation
Fake city hall email demands payment for your building or zoning permit
Criminals impersonating city or county officials email permit applicants citing real permit numbers and property addresses, then demand payment for fees by wire transfer, peer-to-peer app, or cryptocurrency.
Also known as: permit fee phishing, city hall impersonation, zoning permit scam
What to do right now
- 1 Do not click any link or pay any invoice received by email
- 2 Call your city or county permit office directly using a phone number from the official .gov website — never a number in the email
- 3 Forward the suspicious email to your municipality's IT or communications department
- 4 Report to the FTC at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov and the FBI's IC3 at https://www.ic3.gov.
Red flags
- ⚠ Unsolicited email about a permit you hold — real city offices send mailed invoices, not unsolicited payment emails
- ⚠ Payment demanded by wire transfer, Zelle, Venmo, PayPal, or cryptocurrency
- ⚠ Email correctly references your permit number or property address — scammers pull this from public records
- ⚠ Sender domain is not an official city or county .gov address
- ⚠ Urgent deadline threats: permit cancellation or fines if you don't pay immediately