Luzerne County’s GIS, Planning and Zoning Department is alerting the public about a new FBI warning involving planning and zoning permit scams.
Posted on the county department’s page at luzernecounty.org, the alert said criminals are impersonating city and county officials to solicit fraudulent payments for planning and zoning permits.
“The criminals leverage publicly available permit information to identify potential victims and increase the legitimacy of the scam,” the FBI said. “Victims of this scam have been identified nationwide.”
The scam targets individuals and businesses with active applications for land-use permits. The unsolicited emails requesting fee payments often include information about the permit, the application number, and property addresses, along with the names of actual government officials in that jurisdiction and imagery consistent with legitimate government communications, it said.
Victims are directed to pay permit-related invoices by wire transfer, peer-to-peer payment, or cryptocurrency.
The email addresses contain usernames similar to city or county planning and zoning departments but originate from non-governmental domains, such as “@usa.com,” the FBI said.
Email delivery may be timed to coincide with ongoing communications with city and county officials regarding the permitting process. The emails include fraudulent itemized fee statements and encourage recipients to request instructions by email — a tactic to deter victims from contacting the applicable office to verify the fees, it said.
To compel payment, the emails threaten delays or other obstacles in the permitting process, it said.
Email recipients are advised to contact the government office handling their permit to determine if a communication is fraudulent.
The county GIS, Planning and Zoning Department handles planning and zoning for some of the county’s 76 municipalities, with the list posted on its site. Email recipients in municipalities covered by the county can call 570-825-1560 to verify fees.
Those in municipalities not covered by county planning and zoning should contact their municipalities directly, said county GIS, Planning and Zoning Director Dan Reese.
The county forwarded the FBI alert to all municipalities with emails on file, Reese said.
Reese said he has not received any reports of scam attempts in this county.
Victims who have already been targeted can file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
