{"id":145810,"date":"2026-04-08T17:50:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/?p=145810"},"modified":"2026-04-08T17:50:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:50:04","slug":"scam-alert-brown-county-planning-and-zoning-fake-invoice-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/scam-alert-brown-county-planning-and-zoning-fake-invoice-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"SCAM ALERT \u2013 Brown County Planning and Zoning fake invoice scam"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Brown Co, Sheriff Press Release<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Brown County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Minnesota, has received notice that there is a current scam in which individuals receive fake invoices that appear to have been sent from the Brown County Planning and Zoning Department. This scam is sophisticated as the scammer finds available public data and creates a fake invoice that may appear legit to some.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>THIS IS A SCAM!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you receive a suspicious text or email message, delete and do not respond. Don\u2019t set up an account due to a text or email scam.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brown County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Minnesota TIPS to avoid scams:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>Never give out personal or financial information in response to unsolicited requests.\u00a0This includes phone calls, emails, or text messages.<\/li>\n<li>Be cautious of links and new website addresses.\u00a0Scammers often use slightly altered versions of legitimate websites to trick you.<\/li>\n<li>Use strong passwords and enable two-factor authentication where possible.\u00a0This adds an extra layer of security to your online accounts.<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t share your Social Security number or other sensitive information.<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t click on links or open attachments in unsolicited emails.\u00a0Instead, type the website address directly into your browser or call the company directly using a trusted number.<\/li>\n<li>Be cautious of deals that seem too good to be true.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t fall for pressure tactics. Scammers will often try to rush you into making a decision before you have time to think.<\/li>\n<li>Be cautious of requests for money via gift cards, PayPal, or wire transfers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep your money and information, your money and information.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have provided personal information and\/or money, please contact your financial institution and report it to law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brown Co, Sheriff Press Release The Brown County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Minnesota, has received notice that there is a current scam in which individuals receive fake invoices that appear to have been sent from the Brown County Planning and Zoning Department. This scam is sophisticated as the scammer finds available public data and creates a fake &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":125796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-05-31 17:48:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145811,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145810\/revisions\/145811"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}