Beaufort County is alerting residents, businesses, property owners, and members of the public of a fraudulent email scam in which individuals are impersonating Beaufort County Planning and Zoning employees and requesting payment by wire transfer.

Beaufort County has been made aware of an email falsely representing itself as correspondence from "The Beaufort County Planning and Community Development" regarding a zoning map amendment application. The fraudulent correspondence advised the recipient that in order to proceed with the application review process they would need to wire funds to settle an alleged invoice.

The email was not sent by Beaufort County and we encourage all applicants, residents, and business owners to be vigilant and verify unexpected payment requests prior to sending or disclosing any information. 

How to Identify an Official County Email

Beaufort County employee email addresses use the county's official government domain: @bcgov.net

For example, legitimate email correspondence will come from an address ending in: name@bcgov.net

The fraudulent email identified in this incident was sent from: planning.bcgov@usa.com

Despite including "BCGov" in the address and using the name, title, and physical address of our planning and zoning department, this is not a county email address.

Recipients should carefully review the actual email address of the sender rather than relying solely on the name displayed in the "From" field. Scammers may use the names of actual employees, officials, departments, boards, or commissions to make fraudulent correspondence appear legitimate.

Requests for Payment

Beaufort County Government will never solicit or direct payment through an unofficial email address or through informal email correspondence containing wire-transfer instructions.

Any legitimate fee, invoice, citation, permit charge, or other financial obligation owed to Beaufort County will be communicated through official correspondence and established payment processes.

Be particularly cautious of messages that:

• Request payment by wire transfer or provide banking instructions by email.
• Create urgency or state that immediate payment is necessary to complete an approval or application.
• Ask that a wire-transfer receipt or payment confirmation be emailed back to the sender.
• Arrive during odd times (County business hours are 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.)
• Originate from an email address that does not end in @bcgov.net.
• Use the name or title of a County employee or official but originate from a commercial email service such as Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, USA.com, or another non-government domain.
• Direct you to disregard or replace payment instructions previously provided by County staff.

What To Do If Contacted

Never send money, provide banking information, open suspicious attachments, or follow payment instructions contained in a questionable email.

If you receive an email claiming to be from Beaufort County and have any doubt about its authenticity, contact us using the contact information published on our official website: beaufortcountysc.gov. 

Do not rely on telephone numbers, email addresses, links, attachments, or payment instructions contained in the suspicious message.

Anyone who has already transferred funds or disclosed financial information in response to a suspected fraudulent email should immediately contact their financial institution and report the incident to Law Enforcement by calling the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office non-emergency dispatch line at, 843-524-2777.