Scammer targets Brooklynites with fake pest control violations

September 2, 2016 Anna Spivak

Photo courtesy of DOHMH

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If you see this, you’re smelling a rat.

Alerting New Yorkers to a violation notice scam, the New York City Health Department (DOHMH) is urging residents to be on the lookout for bogus letters from “Vermin Control of New York.”

According to the agency, the fraudulent notices look like they are issued by the Health Department and appear to be signed by a former Department of Buildings Commissioner. The notice demands payment of $120 for alleged “assessment and eradication of vermin.”

“Unscrupulous people are mailing fraudulent violation notices acting as the Health Department’s Division of Pest Control,” said Assistant Commissioner for Pest Control Services Mario Merlino. “New Yorkers should know that the Health Department never issues a notice of violation demanding immediate payment. Our notices of violation allow New York City residents to address any violations and they can be contested at an official hearing. We ask New Yorkers to immediately contact 311 or the Health Department if they have received a letter from ‘Vermin Control of New York;’ with their help we can stop these tactics.”