‘Totally illegitimate’: McHenry County officials warn of property tax ‘scam,’ fake jury duty letters

McHenry County officials have warned about real estate tax and jury duty scams that are circulating.

The McHenry County Treasurer’s and State’s Attorney’s offices said Wednesday that they’ve learned taxpayers have gotten fraudulent letters about their taxes. The letters look like they come from the county but have “Tax Registry LLC” in fine print on the bottom of the page, according to a county news release.

An example of the letters provided by the county has the words “McHenry County Public Judgement Record” across the top next to an official-looking logo, and tells people they’re receiving it because there’s a judgment or a lien filed against them because of “unpaid taxes.” It warns of potential wage garnishment or seizure of property and advises people to call an 800 number, seemingly in hopes that recipients will share personal information. Other letters say that the receiver is eligible for a settlement.

McHenry County Treasurer Donna Kurtz said the county government does not have a “public judgment record” office. According to the release, Tax Registry LLC has no known address and only phone numbers. A search in the Illinois Secretary of State business database for “Tax Registry LLC” turned up no results.

Kurtz said her office is the only organization in the county that has authority to collect taxes. She said the county treasurer’s office works with collector banks that the office has vetted and authorized, but “we would never bring in” a group such as Tax Registry.

“It’s totally illegitimate,” Kurtz said.

Her office first caught wind of the scam this week, when the post office returned one of the letters. Kurtz said that she contacted the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office right away. She confirmed that her office is working with the state’s attorney’s office to investigate the scam and said she doesn’t know of anyone who has fallen victim yet.

She urged anyone who has fallen victim to the scam to call her office at 815-334-4260 or the state’s attorney at 815-334-4159. Norm Vinton, head of the state’s attorney’s office’s civil division, said he also hadn’t yet heard of anyone who has been victimized by the letters, but his office is trying to find out who’s behind it.

The tax scam comes after county officials warned of a jury duty scam. The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook this week that residents have received calls from what appears to be the sheriff’s office telling them they’ve missed jury duty, and there’s a warrant out for their arrest. The scammers then proceed to ask for personal information, according to the post.

The sheriff’s office post stressed that police agencies won’t call and claim there’s a warrant out for an arrest or ask for payments. If people get on the phone in the scam, officials said they should hang up, and urged the public to warn elderly relatives, who can be the most vulnerable to such scams.

The McHenry County government Facebook page posted something similar last week, adding that bad actors had even posted dangerous or other scam links in the comments of the same post.

“Heads-up – scammers have been posting comments offering free help under the guise of recovering lost assets,” according to the county’s post. “Do NOT click on any of them – they are only looking to steal from you. We’ve been doing our best to delete these comments as soon as they come up.”