Article Courtesy of The Orlando
Sentinel
By Mary Shanklin
Published March 9, 2017
Florida’s leading real estate industry group
cautioned members against replying to a “Final Notice” bill from the
Florida Board of Realtors.
There is no
Florida Board of Realtors.
“It’s a scam,” said Florida Realtors chief executive
Bill Martin. “And it’s not a simple scam. High-tech
criminals put a great deal of work and planning into
this.”
The scam became apparent over the weekend after agents,
brokers and association executives notified Florida
Realtors. The “Make check payable to:” address appears
to be a post office in Deerfield Beach, according to the
association. |
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The form comes with a threat: “Failure to respond
with your 2017 Agent Board Listing may lead to closure of board listing.
Response required to be included in the Agency listing.”
The letter includes a website, floridaboardofrealtors.org. The website
not only appears legitimate, it’s very professional, according to
Florida Realtors. Apparently most of the links don’t work. Blogs in
their “archive” appear to stretch back a few years, for example, but no
content appears.
So far no members of Florida Realtors have reported they responded to
the demands, said a spokeswoman for the group.
State investigators have been notified, the Realtors’ legal counsel
said.
“For now, members should ignore these demand letters, and we ask brokers
and agents to spread this message to everyone working in the Florida
real estate industry,” Florida Realtors General Counsel Margy Grant
said. “Florida Realtors is still investigating and in contact with
Florida authorities. It’s now also in front of the Senior Assistant
Attorney General in the Economic Crimes section in Florida Attorney
General Pam Bondi’s office.”
Scams aimed at real estate agents and brokers have not been widespread
but some industry experts caution that agents could become prey to
hackers. There are only a few cases in which data thieves have hacked
real estate firms, according to the National Association of Realtors.
But as large companies and conglomerates become more vigilant, some
cyber-security experts have said real estate offices and other small
companies could be next in line.
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