Real Estate Agent Virus

For San Diego real estate agents and brokers, well, actually I should say for all real estate agents and brokers communication with our clients is key. Our number one communication tool is the phone, probably number two would be texting, lastly would be email communication.

Probably one of the most dangerous things to do is to click on a link that’s embedded in an email that you receive. Basically I would never do this in less I recognize who the sender is. That’s because once you click on the embedded link you could be allowing a virus into your computer system. As we all know by now, these viruses can not only take over your computer, and extract all your personal information and contacts, but, now can actually lock up your computer and make it impossible to retrieve any of your information without paying a ransom to some foreign country email scammer.

Real Estate Agent Virus

In case you’re thinking that I’m talking about just locking up your email account, I’m not. These viruses lock up your entire computer all your documents and all your communications will not be retrievable in less the blackmailer send you an unlock key.

I’m sure many of you already know these facts and might be wondering where I’m going with all this. Well, even with spam filters on my email account there are always some that get through especially the ones that are well disguised. I’ve seen a lot of these phony emails, but, until recently I haven’t seen one specifically directed toward real estate agents or brokers.

Well, just a few days ago I got one that was obviously directed toward real estate professionals because is purported to come from an escrow agent with an attached (fake) settlement documents for your review. It’s my contention that once you open this infected attachment you will be in big trouble.

Above is a screen capture of what this email looks like. I’ve erased some of the names and information to protect the innocent. I’m showing you this because I just received it a couple of days ago and because it wasn’t directly addressed to me, but to some undisclosed real estate professional list that these scammers are in possession of. This should be one of the first things that you look for prior to opening or clicking on any unrecognizable email. Plus, the second thing to look for to see if it’s individually addressed to you by using your name in the salutation. The third thing that should raise a red flag, is the URL where the email was purportedly sent from. In the example that I’m showing if you look closely you will see that the URL on this email ends with the suffolk “.tn”. Well, this suffix stands for the country of Tunisia!

At the moment I don’t have an escrow opened any place. And if I did usually I would recognize the escrow officer’s name and the URL that it sent from wooded incorporate the name of the escrow company.

Personally, having been in the residential real estate business for decades, I know we all get very busy at times and may not exercise the due diligence that is necessary to prevent email scams, especially if they seem to be coming from or about a real estate transaction.

Unfortunately, the three red flags that I noted above can vary quite a bit and can actually be spoofed to see more legitimate. I’ve seen many emails directed toward Wells Fargo customers,, Amazon customers or supposed pending delivery of some online purchase. The scammers here are obviously hoping that maybe a few out of 100 people who receive such an email are actually that banks customer or awaiting some Internet delivery.

So, because this one was directly related to real estate professionals be very cautious and follow the Golden rule that if you’re not expecting such an email do not click on any attachments or websites noted in these emails.

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