A new email scam impersonating the Grand Rapids City Planning Commission is causing concern among local officials and potential victims.
Dwelling Place, a nonprofit organization focused on real estate development, has been targeted by fraudulent emails requesting payments.
Jacob Horner, Chief Real Estate Development Officer at Dwelling Place, explained that his organization operates affordable rental housing aimed at income-restricted individuals. He described receiving a suspicious email claiming to be from the city’s planning commission, saying, “I get over 100 emails a day, usually. And so this one was very lengthy, but it had information about the planning commission, and it was very specific to our property that I wouldn't think would be generally available.”
The non-profit organization is currently in the process of rezoning two properties on Fuller and Wealthy through the city’s planning commission, making the email initially seem legitimate.
Horner admitted, “I was fooled for a few minutes at first, because it did have a lot of legitimacy to it. It had a lot of specificity, and I could tell it had a lot of jargon that somebody in planning urban development would use.”
However, he soon noticed discrepancies, including spelling errors and an unusual request for a wire transfer – a payment method the city does not typically use, except for property purchases through a Title Agency.
This prompted Dwelling Place to contact the city's Development Service Center to verify the email’s authenticity.
Jonathan Oeverman, Administrative Service Officer at the city's Development Center, confirmed the email was fraudulent.
Oeverman said, "Called us to verify if it was a legitimate email, and we told him no, and he shared with us the content of the email, and that's when we enacted our policy to try to safeguard the community against these types of scams.”
According to Oeverman, such scams are not unique to Grand Rapids.
"This is something that goes around to other communities and things like that. So there are bad players out there doing this type of stuff," he stated.
Katie Grevious, Marketing & Community Relations Manager for West Michigan, noted that spring is a high season for invoice scams, as companies begin outdoor projects.
She advised, "Reach out in person, double check. Don't click on any links. Don't send any money till you've verbally confirmed that this is legitimate."
The scam has sparked discussions about public information and transparency within the city.
“We have a legal requirement to share that information. And so it's just kind of that tough spot where we've got to figure out what the right balance with that information," Oeverman remarked
As investigations continued, the Development Center reported a second incident concerning the same email scam on Wednesday, May 7.
Residents and businesses are urged to remain vigilant and to contact the center by phone or email with any concerns.
For further assistance, please contact the Grand Rapids Development Center at 616-456-4100 or by email devecenter@grcity.us
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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