Heads up, Franklin County residents: if you get an email from Franklin County’s planning and building department seeking payment for building permits, it’s a scam. 

County officials recently notified county residents of fraudulent emails seeking wire payments for permit approvals, according to a release. The scam is using the name of county planning and building director Wes McCart, includes specific property information and mimics permit details in the emails. 

“Franklin County takes the misuse of its department names and staff identities very seriously,” wrote Brian Dansel, the county’s administrator, in a statement. “We are working to identify and report the source of this fraudulent activity.” 

The fraudulent emails do contain some clear red flags: numerous grammatical and spelling errors, a non-government sender email address of “[email protected]” and fees that don’t match the county’s fee schedule. Also, the county will never request wire transfers for building permit fees. 

Anyone receiving one of the fraudulent emails should not respond to it, contact the county’s planning and building department at 509-545-3521 to report it.