By Heather Michon
Correspondent
Fluvanna County officials are warning residents about a new email scam circulating around the region.
Some residents have received fraudulent emails that appear to come from the Fluvanna County Department of Planning and Zoning.
“These emails contain false and misleading information regarding recent applications and indicate that additional action, as well as payment via wire transfer, may be required before final approval is granted,” officials say in the alert at fluvannacounty.org.
They do not believe the emails are part of any data breach, saying “the information contained in the emails appears to come from the use of publicly available information obtained from the county’s website.”
This particular scam has been circulating in other parts of Virginia and West Virginia since at least last summer. Since the start of April, the city of Winchester and Washington County, West Virginia, have sent similar warnings to their residents.
Fluvanna officials want to remind residents that all official county emails carry the @fluvannacounty.org domain.
Most importantly, the county never requests payment via wire transfer.
If you received a suspicious email, do not respond or click on any links contained in the body of the email.
If you have any questions about an email, call the department of planning and zoning directly at 434-591-1910.
If you have made a payment due to one of these emails, contact the Fluvanna County Sheriff’s Office at 434-589-8211.
The county has also set up a link to report a potentially fraudulent email. Visit https://www.fluvannacounty.org/planning/page/fraudulent-email-alert for details.
