I got a letter in the mail today claiming to contain "Important Property Tax Information" which I immediately grew suspecious of upon seeing it came from Los Angeles, since any official property tax notice would come from Kern County. Upon opening the letter, there is a very official looking form saying my property is overassessed and I have not filed for a reassessment. Indeed I haven't since the county reassessed my property automatically last year and their assessed value was accurate for last year. Further, the county plans to do that for all properties this year, with notices mailed out in July.

Yet the letter "helpfully" offers to fill out a reassessment for me, as long as I pay them a "discounted fee" of $179. If anyone has gotten a notice from "Property Tax Reassessment" in Los Angeles saying they will fill out the reassessment forms for a fee, dump it in the trash. It's not official and you can do the exact same thing on your own for free. The procedures for doing an assessment dispute are at the bottom of this county website: www.kcttc.co.kern.ca.us/secprop.cfm. Note that you can't even file for a reassessment until July 2nd, so yet a further indication that this letter is a scam. If anyone has fallen for this scam, call the police to file a report about it and cancel the check if it hasn't cleared.