I almost got hooked by a scam when looking for real property tax info for an address in Honolulu.
The city makes this public information readily available on line at no cost. Yes, free.
But I made a mistake. Instead of going directly to the city site, I was lazy and just searched for “honolulu real property tax” and then clicked on an official-looking link that appeared to be affiliated with the city. It looked different than I recalled, but I didn’t see any other immediate red flags.
It quickly got strange, though, when I entered an address. Suddenly the search, which typically takes just seconds, stretched on for at least five minutes. I wondered whether the city was suddenly using a new and very inferior vendor to provide this service.
But the biggest surprise was yet to come.
A notice of a fee for the public information. And a fee with an explanation I still find confusing and ambiguous.
PAYMENT:
$1 PER PROPERTY REPORT
REPORT BUNDLE 720 PROPERTY REPORTSPER REPORT RATE AVAILABLE VIA REPORT BUNDLE PRICING OF $30 EVERY 30 DAYS OVER TWO YEARS NOT INDIVIDUAL SALES
WE ONLY ACCEPT VISA AND MASTERCARD FOR PAYMENT, NO ALTERNATIVE CARD TYPES ARE SUPPORTED AT THIS TIME.
GET ACCESS TO OUR PROPERTY RECORD PLATFORM WITH RECORDS FROM HAWAII FOR AN ACCESS FEE OF $1, AND 720 REPORTS FOR INSTALLMENTS OF $30 EVERY 30 DAYS FOR TWO YEARS STARTING TODAY, 24 PAYMENTS TOTAL.ACCESS FEE TODAY: $1.00
ACCESS FEE CONNECTS YOUR ACCOUNT TO OUR PUBLIC RECORDS DATABASE
REPORT BUNDLE: PROPERTY REPORTS ARE AGGREGATED FROM PUBLIC SOURCES AND DO NOT CONSTITUTE CONSUMER REPORTS, OFFICIAL OR GOVERNMENT-AFFILIATED DOCUMENTS.
YOU CAN CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT TO END PAYMENTS AT PUBLICRECORDSDATA.US, 1-855-601-5805, EMAIL SUPPORT@PUBLICRECORDSDATA.US, OR USE THE LIVE CHAT FEATURE. CHARGES WILL APPEAR ON YOUR STATEMENT AS PUBLICRECORDSDATA.US.
SELECT PAYMENT METHOD:
VISA
MASTERCARD
Luckily, the possibility that I might be charged $30 a month stopped me in my tracks.
So I started again at the beginning, and this time immediately found my way to the familiar site of the city’s free system.
The lesson? If you find yourself online in a place that feels weird and is asking for money, run far and run fast!!
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Sadly, so many people get scammed these days. 🙁 🙁 🙁
Thanks for warning people about this horrible scam site. One of the gems of the Honolulu government’s online presence is the FREE access to property tax records in an updated, easy to read format. Just shameful that scamsters are trying to redirect people and take their money. Also, shame on search engines for allowing the scam link to appear at or near the top of the search, or at all!
Thank you for the info. I had not heard about this one! I’m glad something about it raised red flags for you. It’s incredible how many different kinds of scams there are out there!
Thank you Ian!
That’s really good advice!
Something very similar happened to me when I was trying to “reload” a device we have on our car that autopays for bridge tolls in the San Francisco Bay Area. it was a fake site.
If using most common search engine, the most prominent links will usually be an advertiser ‘s site.