Stevens Point police warn of scam involving fake city invoices

Metro Wire Staff

STEVENS POINT — City officials are warning residents and businesses of a scam involving fake invoices that appear to come from Stevens Point municipal departments.

According to a press release issued April 17 by Lt. Joe Johnson, a recent example involved a fraudulent invoice purporting to be from the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission. The invoice requested a wire transfer payment for services such as inspections and application reviews.

City officials say the scam is sophisticated, using realistic formatting and detailed itemization to appear legitimate.

“The City of Stevens Point will never request payment via wire transfer,” Johnson wrote in the press release. He added that all legitimate city emails will end in “@stevenspoint.com” or another verified government domain.

Other red flags include vague instructions to return payment receipts for “agenda inclusion,” and emails that do not provide a phone number for verification.

Anyone who receives a suspicious message is urged not to respond or send money, and instead to contact police directly at 715-346-1501.

City officials say they are actively monitoring the situation and working to prevent further fraudulent activity.

Johnson sent out the following example scam invoice: