diff --git a/lib/action_account.rb b/lib/action_account.rb
index 74b920e3c9d..4d32fcea0dd 100644
--- a/lib/action_account.rb
+++ b/lib/action_account.rb
@@ -4,12 +4,13 @@
 
 # rubocop:disable Metrics/BlockLength
 class ActionAccount
-  attr_reader :argv, :stdout, :stderr
+  attr_reader :argv, :stdout, :stderr, :rails_env
 
-  def initialize(argv:, stdout:, stderr:)
+  def initialize(argv:, stdout:, stderr:, rails_env: Rails.env)
     @argv = argv
     @stdout = stdout
     @stderr = stderr
+    @rails_env = rails_env
   end
 
   def script_base
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@ def script_base
       subtask_class: subtask(argv.shift),
       banner: banner,
       reason_arg: true,
+      rails_env:,
     )
   end
 
diff --git a/lib/script_base.rb b/lib/script_base.rb
index c6e0c95f790..c1f6224af67 100644
--- a/lib/script_base.rb
+++ b/lib/script_base.rb
@@ -3,15 +3,24 @@
 require 'optparse'
 
 class ScriptBase
-  attr_reader :argv, :stdout, :stderr, :subtask_class, :banner
-
-  def initialize(argv:, stdout:, stderr:, subtask_class:, banner:, reason_arg:)
+  attr_reader :argv, :stdout, :stderr, :subtask_class, :banner, :rails_env
+
+  def initialize(
+    argv:,
+    stdout:,
+    stderr:,
+    subtask_class:,
+    banner:,
+    reason_arg:,
+    rails_env: Rails.env
+  )
     @argv = argv
     @stdout = stdout
     @stderr = stderr
     @subtask_class = subtask_class
     @banner = banner
     @reason_arg = reason_arg
+    @rails_env = rails_env
   end
 
   def reason_arg?
@@ -56,6 +65,10 @@ def config
   def run
     option_parser.parse!(argv)
 
+    if rails_env.local?
+      stderr.puts "⚠️ WARNING: returning local data for #{File.basename($PROGRAM_NAME)}"
+    end
+
     if config.show_help? || !subtask_class
       stderr.puts '*Task*: `help`'
       stderr.puts '*UUIDs*: N/A'
diff --git a/spec/lib/action_account_spec.rb b/spec/lib/action_account_spec.rb
index 30382fdf9e6..939fcca0c53 100644
--- a/spec/lib/action_account_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/action_account_spec.rb
@@ -6,8 +6,9 @@
   let(:stdout) { StringIO.new }
   let(:stderr) { StringIO.new }
   let(:argv) { [] }
+  let(:rails_env) { ActiveSupport::EnvironmentInquirer.new('production') }
 
-  subject(:action_account) { ActionAccount.new(argv:, stdout:, stderr:) }
+  subject(:action_account) { ActionAccount.new(argv:, stdout:, stderr:, rails_env:) }
 
   describe 'command line run' do
     let(:argv) { ['review-pass', user.uuid, '--reason', 'INV1234'] }
diff --git a/spec/lib/script_base_spec.rb b/spec/lib/script_base_spec.rb
index f3e2c1379cb..dbbddf93ab5 100644
--- a/spec/lib/script_base_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/script_base_spec.rb
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ def run(args:, config:) # rubocop:disable Lint/UnusedMethodArgument
 
   describe '#run' do
     let(:argv) { [] }
+    let(:env) { 'production' }
 
     subject(:base) do
       ScriptBase.new(
@@ -31,9 +32,34 @@ def run(args:, config:) # rubocop:disable Lint/UnusedMethodArgument
         subtask_class:,
         banner: '',
         reason_arg: false,
+        rails_env: ActiveSupport::EnvironmentInquirer.new(env),
       )
     end
 
+    context 'running in production vs locally' do
+      subject(:run) { base.run }
+
+      context 'in production' do
+        let(:env) { 'production' }
+
+        it 'does not warn' do
+          run
+
+          expect(stderr.string).to_not include('WARNING')
+        end
+      end
+
+      context 'in development' do
+        let(:env) { 'development' }
+
+        it 'warns that it is in development' do
+          run
+
+          expect(stderr.string).to include('WARNING: returning local data')
+        end
+      end
+    end
+
     context 'with --deflate' do
       let(:argv) { %w[--deflate] }