The Orleans County Department of Planning and Development is urging residents to be aware of a scam targeting individuals with active applications submitted to their local town or village that require review by the county Planning Board.
According to Planning and Development Director Corey Winters, individuals are receiving fraudulent emails impersonating county planning officials. The emails request wire transfers, claiming payment is required as part of the planning board’s review process. The emails appear to be coming from a fake email address planning-commission.OrleansCounty@usa.com
“These scam emails look very official and catch people off guard,” said Winters. “The important things to remember are that county planning board review is free, no Orleans County office would solicit for wire transfer payments and any email from Orleans County will end with @orleanscountyny.gov.”
Winters said if you are unsure about suspicious emails, you should always contact the government office from which it purportedly came directly to verify. The Planning Department can be reached at 585-589-3197.
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