Fake municipal authority claiming a tax lien has been recorded against the target's property for unpaid taxes and threatening foreclosure auction unless the delinquent balance is paid immediately via email link — property-owner scam; real tax lien notices are sent via certified postal mail from the county recorder, never cold email payment links.

Fake municipal authority or county tax collector (impersonating county recorder, tax assessor's office, or city finance department) claiming a tax lien has been recorded against the target's property for unpaid property taxes and threatening a foreclosure auction within 30 days unless the delinquent balance is paid immediately via an email link — property-owner scam combining advance-fee fraud with government impersonation. Real municipal tax lien notifications and foreclosure proceedings are initiated exclusively via USPS certified mail from the county recorder or tax collector's office under state property tax code; municipalities never initiate tax lien or foreclosure proceedings via cold inbound email with embedded payment links. The "tax lien recorded — pay delinquent balance within 30 days or property will go to foreclosure auction" urgency pair is the defining pattern for property-tax scams. Distinct from government-fine-penalty-payment-phish (generic government fine pretext) and paycheck-garnishment-legal-phish (wage garnishment modality) — this targets the municipal tax lien / delinquent property tax / foreclosure auction / pay-immediately pretext. Detection: tax lien recorded + delinquent property tax + foreclosure auction + pay immediately vocabulary + no List-Unsubscribe + no In-Reply-To + not protected sender. Trash score: +5. Source: GC1-R29; FTC government impostor scam advisory 2025; FBI IC3 property tax scam alert; CFPB property tax fraud consumer guide; AARP government impersonation report.