Crime & Safety
Dedham Warns Of Phishing Emails Impersonating Town Staff
Officials are warning residents and businesses to scrutinize emails that appear to come from town employees.
DEDHAM, MA — Dedham officials are warning residents and businesses to scrutinize emails that appear to come from town employees.
Scammers have sent fraudulent payment requests to residents, permit applicants, contractors and local businesses, the town alerted residents on Monday. The emails ask for money for permits, taxes or outstanding invoices, sometimes referencing applications before local boards to appear legitimate.
Officials identified planning.dedhamma.gov@usa.com as one address used by the scammers. Town officials say this is not an official town email address.
The town said it would not request passwords, sensitive personal information or financial payments, particularly wire transfers, through an unsolicited email.
Residents should check sender and reply-to addresses for misspellings, substituted characters or unfamiliar domains. Grammar errors, inconsistent fonts and unusual formatting may also indicate fraud.
Legitimate town communications may come from the following domains:
- @dedhamma.gov
- @opengov.com
- @invoicecloud.net
- @dedham.k12.ma.us
- @public.govdelivery.com
Anyone who receives a suspected phishing email should not reply, open attachments, click links or send money or personal information. The town recommends marking the message as spam or phishing, then deleting it.
People who believe they responded to a fraudulent message or disclosed personal information should contact Dedham police at 781-326-1212 to file a report.
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