Criminals are sending phishing emails that impersonate Encinitas city officials and demand payment for permits, the city warned in its Thursday, Sept. 24 weekly update.
The city stated it will never request payment by email, wire transfer, cryptocurrency or payment apps. Residents who receive a suspicious payment request should call (760) 633-2710 to verify it or check through the city's Customer Self-Service (CSS) portal.
Some Encinitas permit applicants have already lost money after wiring payments to scammers, according to a Sept. 15 city advisory.
The city did not specify how many people were affected or how much money was lost.
The scam is part of a nationwide pattern flagged by the FBI and the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). The FBI warned March 9 that criminals are targeting people and businesses with active land-use permit applications, as BleepingComputer reported. Scammers pull permit information, zoning application numbers and property addresses from public records to make the fake emails look legitimate.
The fraudulent emails can include real city employee names and reference legitimate permits and projects, the city cautioned in its Sept. 15 advisory.
Encinitas has taken steps to limit the information scammers can exploit. The Planning and City Clerk departments updated their procedures to redact customer email addresses and other contact information from public staff reports. City staff are also working with the Information Technology team to find additional ways to protect personal information in public documents.
The alert is not new. The city's fraud warning has appeared in every weekly update since at least June 10.
What to do if you receive a suspicious email:
- Do not click links or open attachments.
- Do not respond to the message or send payment.
- Verify the request through the city's CSS portal.
- Call the city at (760) 633-2710 to confirm whether a payment request is legitimate.
- File a complaint with the FBI's IC3 at ic3.gov.
