Last month, Heli-ski company Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventures became the first victims of a scam that has been targeting Haines borough residents since June, paying $4,800 to scammers claiming to be from the Haines Borough administration.
For months, the scam targeted residents with business in front of the borough planning commission, sending invoices made to look like permitting fees on official borough letterhead. The scams ask residents to pay the multi-thousand dollar sums by wire transfer. The borough does not ask residents to make wire-transfer payments, and does not have permitting fees approaching the multi-thousand dollar requests of the scammers.
In late June, the borough began warning people about the scam and redacting online documents to avoid revealing personal information that could be used to target attacks.
Backcountry Adventures and the company’s owner, Nick Trimble, became scam targets earlier this month as they worked through permitting for construction work on their Fort Seward Lodge property.
Borough planner Chen Wu said Trimble had called him to ask why he had been sent an invoice from the Haines Borough Planning Commission for $4,900 — a payment he thought he already made.
As it turned out, it was the second scam invoice Trimble had received. He had previously paid a near-duplicate amount, wiring $4,800 to an Oregon bank account, and not the Haines Borough.
Trimble did not respond to requests for comment, but did post the first scam letter on social media, saying the letter was “very well put together,” and that he assumed it was legitimate.
Wu said the borough has reported the latest instance of the scam to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.