The Division of Local Government Services Training Program is warning local governments to be aware of fraudulent invoices being sent to applicants before planning and zoning boards throughout NYS.
| It’s been brought to our attention that a scam email is going around, pretending to be sent form the City of Beacon, asking Planning Board applicants to pay certain fees. Please note: all application fees and the initial escrow are always paid when the Planning Board or Zoning Board application is submitted. We do not accept wire transfers and any emails pertaining to the City of Beacon Planning Board and Zoning Board will come from an @beaconny.gov email address. Be sure to check the senders email address. If you receive an email, you feel is suspicious, please contact our office. Additionally, a message has been added to the Planning Board and Zoning Board pages of our website. |
The Local Government Training staff have been receiving an increased number of reports of fraudulent activity surrounding land use review in communities across the state. These invoices appear to come from the municipality for increased project review costs.
Municipalities with regularly updated municipal websites are required by Open Meetings Law section 103(e) to upload applications and project files before planning and zoning boards to their municipal websites. These applications usually include information about applicants including names, physical addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, etc.
Scammers have been utilizing this information to access and pull personal information from applications and project files to create and send fake invoices that appear to be from municipalities to applicants before the land use review boards for additional project review costs and/or for county referral fees.
DOS Recommendations:
To combat fraudulent activity and protect applicants, while adhering to the requirements of Open Meetings Law, the Division of Local Government Services recommends these actions:
- Redact email addresses, phone numbers and any other sensitive or financial information from application files before being made available to the public. Names of property owners and/or applicants and physical addresses are public records that should not be redacted and be available to the public.
- Post warnings of fraudulent activity on your municipal websites and remind applicants to reach out to the municipality if they receive any questionable correspondence from anyone representing a municipality.
- Make schedule of fees and other project review costs easy to access on municipal websites along with applications and other supporting documents.
If you have any questions about this or any other land use or local government questions, the Local Government Training staff is available to provide technical assistance to local officials. Please call 518-473-3355 or email localgov@dos.ny.gov for assistance. Thank you.