FBI Warns of Phishing Impersonating City and County Officials
Summary
The FBI warns that criminals are using public permit details to impersonate local planning and zoning officials and solicit fraudulent fees by wire transfer, peer-to-peer payment, or cryptocurrency. It advises verifying requests with local government offices.
Key points
- Criminals target people and businesses with active land-use permit applications, impersonating city and county planning and zoning officials.
- Phishing messages use publicly available permit details, application numbers, or property addresses to appear legitimate.
- Victims are directed to pay fraudulent permit invoices by wire transfer, peer-to-peer payment, or cryptocurrency.
- Warning signs include non-government email domains, attachments prompting recipients to request more details, and urgent payment demands.
- The FBI advises checking sender details and confirming fees directly with local government offices; targets can report incidents to IC3.
Article Details
- Event Type
- Phishing campaign impersonating city and county planning and zoning officials to fraudulently request permit fees.
- Impact
- Businesses and individuals with active land-use permit applications are targeted with convincing payment requests based on publicly available permit details. Victims are directed to pay by wire transfer, peer-to-peer payment, or cryptocurrency; the article reports no quantified losses.