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Board members flag apparent invoice scam using 'Department of Appropriateness' branding
Summary
A board participant reported receiving a $7,000 invoice from an email purporting to be the village review office; staff removed agenda materials temporarily and will re‑post after confirming legitimacy.
A board participant reported receiving an unsolicited invoice claiming to come from a "Department of Appropriateness" at a coldspring.usa.com address that included wire instructions and detailed property information from the public agenda.
"I got an invoice from the Department of Appropriateness with a Cold Spring Village um on letterhead and a coldspring.usa.com ... with a wire information," the participant told the board, saying the message listed the applicant's tax lot and other agenda details and asked for payment. The participant said they had been startled and thought the bill was real, asking staff to remove affected items from the posted agenda while the matter was investigated.
Staff confirmed they temporarily removed and will re‑upload the affected agenda materials and advised caution about unsolicited billing requests; the board thanked staff for catching the issue and for not paying the invoice.
The board did not record a formal vote or a legal determination about the email in the transcript; staff said they would follow up to validate whether the email was fraudulent and restore the agenda once cleared.
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