The deadline for paying Cuyahoga County property taxes for the first half of 2025 is Feb. 20. As many property owners deal with higher taxes due to the 2024 property reappraisal, they are also dealing with the headache of scam calls trying to take advantage of the change in taxes and the added burden it may have put on some.
The Cuyahoga County Department of Consumer Affairs issued a warning Feb. 6. The department's director, Sheryl Harris, warned that scammers are using deception and pressure to get victims to share personal information, such as social security numbers or bank account information.
“We do know that in one case, a scammer told a homeowner who actually was behind on taxes that she wouldn't qualify for any county repayment programs and that she would lose her home,” Harris said. “Then they said they would buy her home to keep her from being in foreclosure and then they demanded her banking information so there's a whole lot about that particular call that we find alarming.”
The Cuyahoga County Treasurer’s Office which handles property tax payments, said it regularly gets reports of scam calls. However, County Treasurer Brad Cromes said the heavy media coverage of the reappraisal increased the amount of reports said.
“So this is a typical thing that we experience,” Cromes said. “I think the volume is a little elevated right now. I think that's in part because there has been so much news around value changes…It's [also] the fact that we just did evaluation change for purposes of taxation. There's been a lot of news coverage about that during the course of last year as we were actually conducting those assessments. So those two kinds of channels are the reason we've got more volume.”
The Department of Consumer Affairs works closely with the county treasurer. Harris said the Treasurer’s Office will sometimes call homeowners who are struggling to provide information, they will never ask for banking information or social security numbers.
For homeowners who are behind on their taxes, Cromes said his office encourages them to reach out to his office.
“We will do phone calls,” Cromes said. “Typically, though, we are receiving those phone calls and not making them as proactively and that's by design. We want folks to be able to reach out to us. When people are making that phone call proactively, they're a lot more likely to get through the process of getting on a [payment] plan.”
The Treasurer’s Office has extended its hours ahead of the Feb. 20 deadline. It will be open Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
