Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Scam Alerts topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Nevada City warns residents about fraudulent planning-invoice emails
Summary
City Manager Sean told the council a new scam is harvesting contact details from public planning packets and sending fake invoices that demand wire transfers or gift cards; the city warned it will never request wire transfers and is removing contact details from online packets.
Nevada City officials warned residents on June 25 about a recent fraudulent invoice scheme targeting people who filed planning applications. City Manager Sean said scammers appear to be scraping publicly posted planning-packet contact information and sending fake invoices that demand immediate payment by wire transfer or other means.
“This is the most important thing — we’re never going to ask you for a wire transfer,” City Manager Sean said, urging anyone who receives a suspicious demand to call city hall or the police. He said the city will remove contact details from future planning packets and will expand public outreach as scammers evolve their methods.
Sean said the city has already issued a press release and coordinated with local media and partners to inform affected residents. He urged people to use the city website’s anonymous complaint form or contact the police department if they suspect they have been targeted.
Council members supported the outreach and asked staff to review other public data sources that scammers could scrape. Council Member Fernandez and others noted that previous scams targeted delinquent-water-bill lists and said the quick public response this time likely prevented any payments to fraudsters.
Next steps: staff will redact contact information from planning packets on the city website where feasible, continue public messaging, and accept reports through the police department and city channels.
