Gahanna Warns of Fake Permit Payment Emails
City says scammers are impersonating staff and asking for planning, zoning, or permit fees.
The City of Gahanna posted a newsflash on October 15 warning residents and applicants about fraudulent emails that impersonate city staff and request payment for planning, zoning, or permit fees.
According to the alert, the messages may include real employee names, property addresses, application numbers, and logos that look official. Scammers can pull those details from public records, so accurate case information alone does not prove a payment request is legitimate.
Gahanna tells people who get an unexpected invoice to call the right city department using the phone number or email address published on Gahanna.gov, not a number or address supplied in the suspicious message. Do not click links, open unexpected attachments, or follow payment instructions until the request is verified. Messages that demand immediate payment or threaten to delay an application deserve the same caution.
Anyone who already sent money should contact their bank or payment provider right away and report the incident to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov. The city's contact block on the alert lists the Gahanna Civic Center at 825 Tech Center Drive and the main phone line at (614) 342-4000. Planning staff also publish Building, Code Enforcement, and Zoning inboxes on the city's Planning page for people who need a named channel after they verify the case.
A similar Gahanna notice went out earlier in 2026 about wire-transfer phishing, and the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center has described a national pattern of permit-fee impersonation that leans on public application data. Those campaigns often attach PDF invoices and push victims toward email-only payment instructions so they never call city hall.
The October 15 alert is the local record to keep handy before any wire, peer-to-peer, or crypto payment tied to a city form. For more suburb coverage, see the Gahanna page, other City notes, and nearby New Albany and Reynoldsburg pages.
