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Pitkin County warns short‑term‑rental license holders of phishing emails demanding payment
Summary
County IT and licensing staff alerted short‑term rental operators that scammers are impersonating county officials and demanding immediate payments; the county urged licensees to delete such messages and to verify legitimate communications by calling the county office number.
Pitkin County officials said on March 25 that a phishing campaign is targeting short‑term rental (STR) license holders by impersonating county staff and falsely claiming licenses are at risk of revocation unless immediate payment is made.
John (county manager) and Andrew Shoemaker, the county IT manager, said the messages have been delivered primarily by email and do not originate from county servers. Shoemaker urged recipients to delete suspicious messages and not to provide personal information or payments in response.
The county advised that legitimate emails from Pitkin County will come from an @pitkincounty.com address and that licensees with questions should call the county at (970) 920‑5200 to verify any request rather than reply to unexpected messages. A press release and social‑media posts have been distributed; staff said they planned to repeat the notice at the next public meeting.
