Urbana planning staff warns of invoice fraud, posts principal‑planner opening

Planning staff told the commission they have posted a principal‑planner position with a priority application deadline of Jan. 23 and that a Planner I will join the department on Jan. 26. Staff encouraged commissioners to share the posting on outreach channels.

Staff also described an ongoing fraud scheme targeting applicants: web‑crawlers harvest details from publicly posted application packets and those details are repackaged into fake invoices sent from spoofed email addresses that mimic the planning inbox and use the city logo. These fraudulent invoices have sought payments of several thousand dollars and requested electronic transfers, while legitimate planning charges (application, legal ad, recording) are typically under $1,000 and are not collected by email wiring without prior verification.

“If you receive an invoice from the planning division or the city of Urbana by email, it is likely a fraud,” staff said, and urged applicants and commissioners to contact the planning office to verify any billing before sending funds. Staff said they will work with IT and the city clerk to implement best practices, redact personally identifiable information from public postings where appropriate, and update email signatures with fraud warnings.

Staff invited commissioners to report suspected incidents and said the department will share more guidance with applicants and the public.