NYS's Division of Local Government Services Training Program reports of fraudulent activity surrounding land use review in communities in New York State
The New State's 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.
To combat fraudulent activity and protect applicants, while adhering to the requirements of Open Meetings Law, the Division of Local Government Services recommends the following 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 email localgov@dos.ny.gov or call 518-473-3355 for assistance.
Editor in Chief Harvey Randall served as Director of Personnel, State University of New York Central Administration; Director of Research, Governor's Office of Employee Relations; Principal Attorney, Counsel's Office, New York State Department of Civil Service; and Colonel, JAG, Command Headquarters, New York Guard.
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