City Warns of Financial Scams Targeting Land Use Customers

Last week, the city became aware of some recent attempted financial scams that targeted customers engaged in land use services...

Mar 28, 2026

The City of Corvallis issued a press release warning residents and developers about a recent series of financial scams targeting individuals involved in local land use applications.

According to the release (here), officials are investigating multiple attempted scams in which individuals connected to open land use cases were contacted by fraudsters posing as Corvallis city staff.

In these cases, scammers reportedly used publicly available information tied to development applications to identify potential victims. They then sent fraudulent invoices, often appearing to come from city building officials, requesting payment as part of the permitting or land use review process.

Those invoices instructed recipients to send payment via wire transfer. That’s the red flag.

City officials emphasized that this is not how legitimate payments are handled. The City will never request payment via wire transfer, officials said, urging residents to treat any such request as suspicious.

How the Scam Works

The scam relies on a mix of public records and impersonation. By referencing real projects or applications, the fraudulent messages can appear convincing, especially to applicants already expecting communication from the city.

Some scams may also use the names of actual city employees while directing victims to reply to unfamiliar email addresses or phone numbers.

If you receive a suspicious email that appears to be from an official source, always check and double-check the sender’s address… specifically the part after the “@” symbol, in order to verify that it comes from an official website. Scammers often purchase domain names with slight differences and create email addresses from those domains.

How to Protect Yourself

City officials are urging anyone involved in land use or development processes to take extra precautions:

Verify that emails are coming from official city domains
Be cautious of unexpected payment requests
Watch for grammatical errors or unusual formatting
Avoid sending money through wire transfers

For legitimate transactions, the city notes that payments for land use services are processed through secure, official channels, not through direct payment requests.

Corvallis makes certain planning and development information publicly accessible as part of its transparency and permitting process. While that openness supports community engagement, it can also create opportunities for people to exploit the system.

City officials say they are continuing to investigate the incidents and are encouraging anyone who receives suspicious communications to report them.

City Manager's Office - 541-766-6901
city.manager@corvallisoregon.gov

Corvallis Police Department - 541-766-6911

More info on City Land Use Applications can be found here.