Olmsted County warns residents about new email phishing scam

Olmsted County wants to alert residents about a new email scam affecting people in nearby counties.

Scammers are sending emails from Hotmail, Gmail, and other non county addresses. They label the email with a name that looks like it is from a county in Minnesota, but it is not real.

These scammers find information from public websites. Then they use that information to create a fake invoice that asks you to pay by wire transfer. Because they include your correct information, the email may look official — but it is not.

A recent example happened in Dodge County. A resident received an email that looked like it came from the county administrator of Dodge County. The email was concerning a property permit and asked the person to wire money for an invoice. This email was fake.

Important things to know:

• Invoices will not come from personal county staff email addresses.  
• We will never send emails from Hotmail, Gmail, or other free email accounts.
• All real county emails end in olmstedcounty.gov.
• If you receive an email and are unsure if it is real, contact us right away.

How to protect yourself:

• Be careful with emails that look suspicious.
• Do not click links or open attachments if you didn’t expect the message.
• If something seems off, contact Olmsted County to double check.

Staying alert and asking questions can help keep your information safe.