North Branford Town Manager Warns Against Scam Using Fraudulent Bills To Zoning Applicants

NORTH BRANFORD, CT — Town Manager Michael Downes is warning residents about scammers who are generating fake invoices for permits purporting to come from the Town and asking the applicant to wire money to an account in Oregon.

"We have been made aware of one resident who was sent a fraudulent bill for a zoning permit," Downes said. "That individual had already paid their $310 fee and then received this fake bill for $4,950 via email and was asked to wire it to an out-of-state account."

Downes notified the North Branford Police Department and added that "any residents or applicants with recent or pending applications should be on guard against this fraud."

"We are doing several things as a result of this to protect our residents and applicants," said Downes. "First, we are reaching out to all applicants on file over the past six-month period to directly warn them of this scam. Second, we are ensuring that all applications that appear on the Town website have applicant email addresses redacted. Additionally, we are issuing this public call for awareness and alertness."

Anyone who receives such a message should contact the town "immediately" at 203-484-6010.

According to Downes, the town "will never ask an applicant to wire money for any fees or payments." He said that any "legitimate correspondence from the Town will be from a ‘northbranfordct.gov’ email address."

"Anyone in doubt should always contact us directly and ask,” Downes said.

The Town Manager suggested looking for red flags that are in these kinds of email scams:

• Check the email address it originates from. All official communication from the town will be from a ‘northbranfordct.gov’ email address. The scammers in this instance sent from a ‘usa.com’ address.
• The Town does not request wire transfers for payment. If a message purporting to come from the Town asks for one, it is fraudulent.
• Urgent Language. Be wary of any email demanding immediate action, threatening in nature, or attempting to create a false sense of urgency related to the demand to pay.
• Suspicious Links. While not the case in this instance, many email scammers will send payment links. You can hover over them with your cursor without clicking. If they look suspicious, they likely are.

Suspicious emails can be reported to your email provider, the Anti-Phishing Working Group at reportphishing@apwg.org, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov, or contact the North Branford Police Department to make a report.