A Tale of Caution from the Wet Coast
The following article is reprinted from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver newsletter, REALTORLink. It addresses the importance of knowing who is showing your listed properties and how to avoid having someone use your listed properties for fraudulent purposes.
The article refers to access cards and one-day codes for lock boxes – the Vancouver Board uses electronic lock boxes. The principles are the same for lock boxes used by RAHB members – give your code to someone you don’t know, and bad things can happen.
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With 11,000 members, it’s tough to know ‘em all
That voice on the other end of the phone. Are you sure you know who it is? We often recognize callers, but that isn’t the case with everyone. We’re trusting folks, and it’s tempting to accept that the caller is telling us the truth about who they are. Sadly, sometimes callers are scammers.
Recently, a member received a phone call from “Fred Smith at ABC Realty.” He was calling about the member’s vacant duplex listing and wanted to show it on short notice. The member said there was a lockbox, that the place was vacant and that Fred could show it anytime he wanted by using an access card. Fred said that there was something wrong with his access card and asked for a “one-day code.” The member gave him a one-day code and the call ended.
A day or two later our member got a call from a woman saying she had seen a for rent ad for the duplex. She was enquiring whether it was still available. Our member became suspicious since his duplex was for sale, not for rent. He questioned the caller as to where she had seen the ad and the phone number on the ad. The caller gave Fred’s phone number. That same phone number was also used on other similar for rent ads.
Our members’ experience illustrates an all-too-common scam. The scammer looks for properties advertised as vacant. S/he poses as a REALTOR® and asks the seller’s REALTOR® for a one-day lockbox code. Sometimes, he comes up with another convincing story to get the seller’s REALTOR® to leave him a key so he can show the property. Once the key is in his possession he copies it and runs an ad on an Internet advertising website. He poses as the landlord and collects cash deposits from potential renters. Sometimes he advises prospective tenants that he is suddenly out of town, tells them where the key is and asks them to go and look at the place themselves. Sometimes he arranges to take their rental deposit over the Internet because he’s “still out of town.”
This story should make us all break out into a cold sweat. Imagine what the seller would say or think when they discover we took someone at their word and gave them a one-day code or allowed them to pick up a key from the office on the strength of a phone call.
What to do? Here are some solutions:
- Attend all showings. (Not always possible, I know.)
- Be hyper vigilant when we have a vacant property listed.
- Ask for their brokerage name and phone number so we can call the office to confirm their identity.
- Check the Council’s [in Ontario, RECO’s] website using “licensee [Registrant] search” to confirm identities – although that may not weed out an imposter who has fake business cards.
- Never let keys out of our sight and only make them available to buyer’s agents for personal pickup, direct from us.
Always be aware of the potential legal liability you might attract by giving out a one-day code or a key to a scammer.
Some further advice (from a subsequent issue of REALTORLink):
Consider whether your ad should say that a property is vacant. This information makes it attractive to fraudsters to use as bait. Should you discover your listing is being advertised for rent on Craigslist, Kijiji or elsewhere you can report it as follows:
On-line: https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca
Toll Free: 1.888.495.8501
Toll Free Fax: 1.888.654.9426
Email: info@antifraudcentre.ca
Article by Kim Spencer, the “Ethics Guy”, reprinted courtesy of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.