City Issues Warning About Scam Targeting Rezoning Applicants

Published on October 27, 2025

Exterior of government center, showing 4th street and Uptown Charlotte in the backrgound.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (October 27, 2025) – The City of Charlotte is alerting residents to a scam involving an email that appears to be from the city’s Planning, Design & Development Department. The email requests funds from rezoning applicants using a fraudulent invoice. Instructions in the email require the applicant to wire a payment to an account to settle the invoice. These messages are not from the City of Charlotte and should be disregarded.  

City of Charlotte rezoning applications and payments are all processed through Accela. Notification for payment of fees for the City of Charlotte’s land development section will come directly from Accela. The email will come from NoReply@Accela.com (Auto.Sender@Accela.com).   

There are two payment methods available: 

  • Electronically: Via credit card or eCheck 
  • By check: A hard copy check may be delivered or mailed to the CLT Development Center (CMGC – Lobby Level, 600 E. Fourth St., Charlotte, NC 28202) 

Staff or city officials will never request that funds be wired to an account.  

Victims who received the email and followed through with making payments should call 911 and 311 to file a report. Currently, no other scam attempts have been confirmed. City of Charlotte staff encourage customers to be vigilant and to contact the appropriate department directly if they ever need to verify payment information.

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