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Wethersfield staff warns applicants about phishing and public‑records redaction risks
Summary
Town planning staff alerted commissioners that applicant contact information in online PDF packets has been exploited in phishing scams; staff recommended removing or limiting publicly posted contact details and preserving documents internally to reduce fraud risk.
At the end of the meeting, planner David Elder warned the commission that applicant contact details included in online application packets can be harvested and used in phishing campaigns. He reported a recent incident in which an applicant received a scam email demanding thousands of dollars and another in which someone brought a fraudulent check to the office.
Elder said staff are examining options that preserve the public record while removing or redacting contact details that facilitate fraud. "We might be at the point where the information that we put online... is not just redacted, but it is just doesn't have any email or address information that can be used," he said, and asked the commission to support finding a balance between transparency and safety.
The commission agreed staff should pursue options to limit exposure and continue preserving necessary documents for regulatory review.
