The Harrisonburg Police Department is alerting residents to a new scam in which fraudsters pose as the city’s Community Development Department and send fake invoices by email.
According to HPD, the scam targets individuals who recently applied for land use approvals. The fraudulent emails attempt to pressure recipients into wiring money for payments that are not legitimate.
Police shared example screenshots of the misleading messages and highlighted the email address being used by the scammer: “Planning.CityOfHarrisonburgVA@usa.com.” Officials emphasized that legitimate city emails will always end in “@harrisonburgva.gov.”
HPD urged residents to stay vigilant when reviewing unexpected messages. Signs of a scam can include unusual sender addresses, spelling or punctuation errors, threatening language, or urgent demands for payment.
Anyone who has submitted an application through Community Development and receives an invoice they did not expect is encouraged to contact the department directly to verify its authenticity.