NOTICE FOR ALL APPLICANTS: 

McHenry County is warning residents of a scam involving fraudulent emails pretending to originate from the Planning and Development Department.

A scammer is sending fake emails targeting people who have submitted zoning or permit requests. They include real case details scraped from the County’s online streaming of meetings to make the messages look legitimate. The fraudulent emails, sent from a usa.com address, inform constituents that their permit was approved and encourage them to open an attached invoice and pay for their permit through a link.

 If you receive such an email with a usa.com address, delete it immediately and flag it as spam. Besides the risk of sending money to a scam artist, clicking a link or opening an attachment in a scam email could expose your computer and/or your network to malware, viruses, or ransomware.

 All official McHenry County government business uses addresses from its official mchenrycountyil.gov domain – we never use usa.com or any other address.

 If you are in the process of obtaining, updating or paying for a permit with McHenry County, it is done entirely through our online portal at Planning & Development | McHenry County, IL

 If you have questions or concerns about the legitimacy of an email you receive from the Planning and Development Department, you can always verify it by calling 815-334-4560 or emailing plandev@mchenrycountyil.gov.

County warns of scammers targeting permit applicants | County News | McHenry County, IL