Brookings resident warns of sophisticated planning-related phishing; city posts advisories

A Brookings resident told the City Council on May 12 that she and other local planning applicants have been targeted by a sophisticated phishing scam that impersonates the city’s planning office and solicits wire transfers.

“I was demanding $2,200 additional fees from me due to my application ... including this $4,200 one that I needed to rectify by wire transfer,” resident Adele Kurtz told council, describing a message she received after her approval appeared on the city’s publicly posted planning documents. She said the message appeared professionally produced and caused her significant stress and lost time seeking legal advice and contacting city staff.

Mayor Isaac Hodges said the city had posted an advisory on its website and social media and warned residents the city will never request payment by wire transfer. “We will never ask any citizen or any business to send us a payment via a wire transfer,” Hodges said. He urged anyone who receives a suspicious message to forward it to the city and to the police; the city indicated it will escalate fraud reports to state or federal investigators as appropriate.

Councilors and staff discussed whether to redact private contact information from planning materials published online. Hodges said he would consult City Attorney Laurie Cooper about redactions and that staff had posted a public notice explaining the scam and advising residents to verify email addresses and call city hall before sending payments.

Kurtz said the scammers appeared to have obtained her contact details from the city website’s published planning application and asked the council to consider removing or redacting email addresses and telephone numbers from publicly posted documents. City staff and council members acknowledged the concern and discussed possible administrative changes to application forms and public postings to reduce exposure.