St. Pete Beach Alerts Residents to Fraudulent Scheme Targeting Zoning and Planning Applicants

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ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) — Residents of St. Pete Beach are being alerted by city officials about a scam aimed at individuals applying for zoning or planning approvals. This fraudulent activity seeks to extort money from unsuspecting applicants.

In a recent case, a local business owner who applied for a permit to add a balcony to their restaurant fell victim to this scam. Thankfully, they identified the suspicious email and reported it to the authorities.

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Channel 8 interviewed another business owner who noted that scams like these are becoming increasingly frequent.

“We receive unsolicited calls, texts, and emails all day,” shared John Brooks Murray, who owns Baywaters Apartments.

“Since everyone knows each other around here, we keep an eye out for one another,” Murray added.

“To the extent that we see this remaining an ongoing issue, we’ll continue to monitor and inform the public through our different communication channels,” said Marc Portugal with the City of St. Pete Beach.

City officials said the imposters were able to track down people who recently submitted zoning or planning permits, and they sent them messages asking for hundreds or thousands of dollars for an approval fee.”

“It doesn’t surprise me that the scammers are latching onto this,” Murray said. “I mean they look for vulnerable areas and they take advantage of people who are desperate. There are a lot of desperate people out here on the barrier islands.”

The people who received them had a feeling something was up and reported it, but city leaders are warning the public because many of the emails appeared to have legitimate and specific information related to these people’s properties.

“So to them it seemed like a realistic amount of money,” Portugal said. “If people are concerned about the legitimacy of a communication from the city – they should definitely call planning and zoning department and find out whether or not the request is legitimate.”