Public Service Announcement - Spear Phishing Emails

Please be aware that some members of the community have been receiving elaborate spear-phishing emails. These emails claim that there is an invoice in need of payment. 

If you receive an email claiming to be an invoice from the City of Homer, and the email does not come from the domain @ci.homer.ak.us, the email is a scam and should be deleted.

If you are not sure if an email, claiming to be from the City of Homer is authentic, please call us at 907-235-8121 and we will be more than happy to verify authenticity.

Government impersonation scams on the rise statewide.

Also, as reported by the Alaska Beacon news article published on December 16, 2025 by Corinne Smith, the FBI's Anchorage office is warning Alaskans to be on guard as government impersonation scams surge across the state.

Scammers are posing as FBI agents, police officers, or government officials, claiming victims have missed jury duty or have arrest warrants, then demanding immediate payment via cryptocurrency, gift cards, or wire transfers. The scammers often use spoofed caller IDs to appear legitimate and rely on fear and urgency to pressure victims into paying. Officials report Alaskans lost $1.3 million to these scams in 2024—over five times the previous year—and the threat continues to grow.

Officials say anyone targeted by such calls should pause, not provide personal information or payment to the caller, but they should report scams to the agency and report the fraud to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, a reporting hub for cyber-crime at www.ic3.gov.