Fraudulent Invoice Alert for Planning & Zoning Applicants

Published on June 11, 2026

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PUBLIC NOTICE: Fraudulent Invoice Alert for Planning & Zoning Applicants

The City of Douglasville Planning Commission has issued an urgent warning regarding a scam targeting active planning, development, and zoning applicants.

An unauthorized party is circulating highly realistic, deceptive invoices utilizing cloned City of Douglasville branding and headers. These fraudulent documents reference legitimate local projects and active site details to deceive businesses and engineering applicants into sending immediate funds (See example(PDF, 162KB) ).

How to Identify the Scam Invoice:

  • Demands for Wire Transfers: The fraudulent document instructs applicants to request wire instructions via email response. The City of Douglasville does not solicit or accept wire transfers for Planning Commission application reviews.
  • Urgent Demands: It pressures applicants with a "Due Upon Receipt" status and warns that development workflows are contingent on immediate funding.

Required Action:

  1. Do Not Remit Payment: If you receive an invoice asking for wire transfers, do not process it.
  1. Verify via Portal: Check your official online municipal permitting portal profile to confirm real pending balances.
  1. Report to Staff: Forward any questionable billing correspondence directly to verified community development department personnel using the official zoning@douglasvillega.gov email.

See an example

See an example of the scam document(PDF, 162KB)

 

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