The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Township officials are spreading the word about a fraudulent email purporting to be from the Township Planning Board.
According to the Township IT department, the email appears to come from “Planning Commission Franklin Township,” with the email Planning-Co.FranklinTownship@usa.com.
Officials stress that the email did not come from the Township, and should be deleted.
“The Township will never request payments, wire transfers, or sensitive information via unsolicited email,” according to the statement.
The following steps were offered to identify the scan:
The fraudulent message includes:
- Claims of an attached invoice related to a zoning or planning application
- Instructions to reply to the message for wire transfer details
- A misspelled and reference incorrect name: “Planning Commision”
- A fake email address using “@usa.com” — official Township emails always end in @franklintwpnj.org
Officials advise to not respond to the message, open any attachments or links, or send any payments or provide personal or business information.
“If you receive a suspicious message claiming to be from the Township, contact us directly before taking any action at (732) 873-2500, the statement reads.
Officials also suggest to verify senders email addresses carefully, look for spelling errors or unfamiliar tone/language, and never trust urgent payment or verification requests by email.
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