Heads up…if you or anyone you know receives an alert from the Florida Board of Realtors, that alert is a scam. There is no such entity as the Florida Board of REALTORS®. The only state association of Realtors in the Sunshine State is the Florida Realtors.
It turns out that everyone has to beware of scams…not just buyers, not just little old ladies, not just internet addicts…everyone has to beware of scams…even real estate agents. This non-existent Florida Board of Realtors outfit sent out a fake letter and a fake bill for $225.00 to all of the real estate agents in Florida. The letter threatened that “failure to respond within 17 days of the letter being sent that any Board Listing registered to you may lead to closure of that Board Listing.” The forms also imply that not answering the form and bill could put an agent’s state real estate license in jeopardy.
The National Association of REALTORS® is investigating the scam and recommends that member agents with the Florida Realtors simply ignore the demand letters sent by this rogue group. Currently, no other states have experienced this and/or parallel scams, however NAR urges its 1.2M members to report anything at all suspicious to the trademark@realtors.org. If any Florida realtor has already cut a check to the non-entity, Florida Board of Realtors, the NAR suggests that the check be cancelled immediately.
This scam is a high tech one that requires attention to detail. The scam has a working URL with a logo, job listing, testimonials, phone number, etc. however, the links for the site don’t work and the phone number goes only to an automated system that asks the caller to leave a message and reminds the caller to pay the bill.
The Florida Realtors has issued a cease and desist order and has contacted its Florida Attorney’s General section in economics crimes, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and the Florida Real Estate Commission. NAR has filed a complaint with the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers in order to have the domain name transferred to NAR so NAR can shut down the domain. How this outfit gained access to the Florida Realtors member contact information list is also under investigation.
Thanks to the real estate agent who first reported this suspicious correspondence in the first place, the professional real estate associations are dialed into this scam and taking action. Other targeted individuals and groups who belong to similar associations are encouraged to do the same.
