Village warns of scam linked to agenda info

The Village of Fredonia is trying to ward off scammers targeting a variety of applicants.

Since spring, fraudulent invoices for fees have been sent to applicants listed in Plan Commission and Board of Appeals agendas.

Monday’s Plan Commission agenda included the warning. The village, it said, “will never email an invoice or request payment by wire transfer, electronic transfer or payment to an unfamiliar account.”

Village Administrator Christophe Jenkins said agenda packets usually included applicant contact information.

“It appears that someone was obtaining this information from the packets and sending fraudulent invoices,” he said.

“Since identifying the issue, we have redacted applicant contact information from our agenda packets, which appears to have significantly reduced the problem.”

Jenkins said he doesn’t know of any businesses that lost money through the scam.

“Fortunately, the first few applicants who received these scam emails contacted us to verify the requests before taking any action, as the amounts and wiring instructions seemed suspicious. To our knowledge, no one has fallen victim to the scam,” Jenkins said.