Connect Magazine May/June 2017 | Page 22

SCAM ALERT! BE AWARE
April 17, 2017 – The “Florida Board of Realtors,” which never
existed, seems to have been taken over by another made-up or-
ganization: The “Florida Real Estate Board.” Scammers appear
to use both names now based on the mail Realtors in Florida
continue to receive. Response required to be included in the Agency listing.” The
“Make check payable to:” address appears to be a post office in
Deerfield Beach, Fla.
Fake Board image letterHave you been scammed? Florida Re-
altors partnered with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and
wants to hear from you. Email us at: legalnews@floridarealtors.
org or call [phone], extension 2434. “Our big fear is that this scam is working – that some members
haven’t gotten the message and are sending money to crimi-
nals,” Grant adds. “The reason some scams keep coming back,
even if slightly reinvented, is that they work. These guys won’t
keep paying money to print and mail letters if it’s not profitable.
The website not only seems legitimate, it’s very professional.
However, most of the links don’t work. Blogs in their “archive”
It’s not clear why scammers dropped the word “Realtor” appear to stretch back a few years, for example, but no content
from their fake title in mailings – it still appears on their legit- comes up when you click. The same is true for many other links.
imate-looking website – but it could relate to copyright law. A
scam often breaks several national and state laws. Since the Na- “For now, members should ignore these demand letters, and
tional Association of Realtors® vigorously defends its Realtor® we ask brokers and agents to spread this message to everyone
trademark, the scammers may have dropped it from mailings for working in the Florida real estate industry,” says Margy Grant,
that reason.
general counsel for Florida Realtors.
“It’s not a simple scam,” says Bill Martin, Florida Realtors CEO.
“High-tech criminals put a great deal of work and planning into “As an industry, it’s in our best interest to make sure everyone
knows about this scam and ignores it. Only then will this scam
this.”
go away forever.”
The form comes with a threat: “Failure to respond with your
2017 Agent Board Listing may lead to closure of board listing. © 2017 Florida Realtors
22 RPCRA.ORG | MAY/JUN 2017