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Email Hacked, and other Interesting Frauds? Things You Need to do NOW

By
Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Real Estate Consultants CA DRE #01147426

There seems to be a multitude of real estate scams lately, and just as frightening is Email Hacking. Both can cost you financially and emotionally.

Many real estate scams involve con artists pretending to be lenders or short sales specialists. They often prey on the elderly and those less educated. The important thing here is to carefully check these people out and NEVER give them any “up-front money” in lieu of work they are promising to do for you.

For many years now I have been subscribing to ASK LEO, an Internet Newsletter written by Leo Notenboom.  Here’s an article I read regarding Email Hackers! The article states:

It seems like not a day goes by where I don't get a question from someone that boils down to their email account having been hacked.

Someone, somewhere has gained access to their account and has started using it to send spam. Sometimes passwords are changed, sometimes not. Sometimes traces are left, sometimes not. Sometimes everything in the account is erased, both contacts and saved email, and sometimes not.

But the one thing that all of these events share is that suddenly several people, usually those on your contact list, start getting email from "you" that you didn't send at all.

Your email account has been hacked!

I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading this entire article. I would also recommend SAVING this article as well.

  • Share this short-URL: http://ask-leo.com/C5415 to go directly to this article online.
  • A stand-alone PDF of this article is available for offline viewing: right click here and "Save Target As..." (or equivalent) to save a copy on your PC. Feel free to share this document with others. (Adobe Reader, FoxIt Reader, or equivalent PDF reading application required to view the document.)

 

 

While Writing This Article:

While I was writing this Blog, an innocent looking fax arrived. It asked for my Business Name, Address, Phone and Email information. The logo and company name on the letterhead states: Yellow Pages.America.com. It says “Make Sure People can Find Your Company in LARGE print. Then in very small print at the bottom it states that by signing this, I am authorizing to give the $109 a month, payable one year in advance for a two year term. After two years I have to send them something in writing and send it to Panama!

So…fair warning………………they are “Out To Get You” and YOU had better be prepared.

IMPORTANT: If you or someone you know is interested in buying or selling a home in the Palm Desert Area,  give me a call….or visit my website at Palm Springs Homes and Estates. I will be happy to give you or your referral my “red carpet service.” After the sale, I will send you a $50 Gift Certificate towards dinner in a fabulous Palm Springs Area Restaurant so you can celebrate!

Brought to You By Your Favorite Realtor
Nancy Hankin

Comments(29)

Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

Oct 20, 2012 01:16 PM
Nancy Hankin
RE/MAX Real Estate Consultants - Palm Springs, CA

Thank you Kathy. I am Honored .

Happy Halloween from Nancy

 

 

Oct 20, 2012 01:32 PM
Gita Bantwal
RE/MAX Centre Realtors - Warwick, PA
REALTOR,ABR,CRS,SRES,GRI - Bucks County & Philadel

Thank you for the link. I will check it out right now. It is scary to think that people can hack into our computers.

Oct 20, 2012 09:30 PM
Dorie Dillard Austin TX
Coldwell Banker Realty ~ 512.750.6899 - Austin, TX
NW Austin ~ Canyon Creek and Spicewood/Balcones

Good morning Nancy,

I'm over from Kathy's post this morning where she hi lighted your post. I can see why she did...thanks for providing the link..great information..just bookmarked your post!

Oct 20, 2012 10:27 PM
Kristin Johnston - REALTOR®
RE/MAX Platinum - Waukesha, WI
Giving Back With Each Home Sold!

Great post...I saw your post thanks to Kathy, and I agree it is worthy of her feature....have a wonderful day!

Oct 21, 2012 12:12 AM
Mike Cooper, Broker VA,WV
Cornerstone Business Group Inc - Winchester, VA
Your Neighborhood Real Estate Sales Pro

This is a good reminder, Nancy.  There are so many who are trying to make a quick killing by scamming someone.  Your advice is taken seriously.  Thanks for the link too.

Oct 21, 2012 12:17 AM
Michelle Finnamore
Toronto GTA, Alliston, Newmarket - Vaughan, ON
Preparing your property for sale

HI Nancy, it was a busy summer for hackers here in our area. More than 10 agents had their email accounts hacked. I will be forwarding this to each of them. Thank you for the heads up about Leo. I will be siging up.

Oct 21, 2012 01:04 AM
Jeff Dowler, CRS
eXp Realty of California, Inc. - Carlsbad, CA
The Southern California Relocation Dude

Nancy

It seems that hacking, whether emails, websites or company records, is getting more and more rampant. I had my Twitter account hacked a few years ago and also Facebook.

Whenever I get an email that is clearly spam due to hacking from someone I know I let them know immediately.

Good article to share - thanks

Jeff

Oct 21, 2012 01:52 AM
Adrian Willanger
206 909-7536 AdrianWillanger-broker.com - Seattle, WA
Profit from my two decades of experience

Nancy-good article, I;m going to send it to a friend who got hacked yesterday. Thanks.

Oct 21, 2012 03:53 AM
Dr. Paula McDonald
Beam & Branch Realty - Granbury, TX
Granbury, TX 936-203-0279
So many scammers out there. So important to be on top of all of this.
Oct 21, 2012 03:57 AM
Nancy Hankin
RE/MAX Real Estate Consultants - Palm Springs, CA

As Active Rainers we can SHOUT IT OUT" whenever we see an injustice done and tell it to "our world." We have an excellent platform with great followers, and I'm glad to see so many "Spreading the Word." to others.

We live in a world which invites scammers, sleazeballs and con artists via the Internet, but we can "turn that around" to our advantage and report these activities whenever we see them.

Thank you all for helping to expose these scammers, sleazeballs and con artists. You're doing a great job!

Last week's Blog was on Protection for You and Your Home!

Happy Halloween from Nancy

Oct 21, 2012 04:16 AM
Richie Alan Naggar
people first...then business Ran Right Realty - Riverside, CA
agent & author

years ago I am reminded of the "if you are receiving this in error, click here and it will stop"...email. The click verifies your address and the rest is nuisance history after that...good post Nancy

Oct 21, 2012 04:22 AM
Nancy Hankin
RE/MAX Real Estate Consultants - Palm Springs, CA

Here is a message I received from AT & T:

A recent Trojan Horse email scam targeting AT&T customers includes links to malicious software. The email displays similar to an AT&T bill and includes a subject line relating to a new or past due account balance.

Oct 21, 2012 05:20 AM
Rebecca Gaujot, Realtor®
Lewisburg, WV
Lewisburg WV, the go to agent for all real estate

Nancy, thanks for the link to Leo's email re "email hacked".

Oct 21, 2012 10:54 AM
Nancy Hankin
RE/MAX Real Estate Consultants - Palm Springs, CA

ANOTHER SERIOUS SCAM WARNING TO BE AWARE OF!

An article appearing in NewsGenius

Monday, October 15, 2012Thousands of Florida Realtors and other professionals with state licenses are being warned of a “very official”-looking identity theft scam that lures potential victims with threats of disciplinary action.

“It looks very official,” Poreda said about the e-mail, which is being investigated by the department. “They copied the banner on our website and created an e-mail signature that looks very much like ours.”

While Realtors submitted the initial complaints about the scam, Poreda said the department doesn’t know how people are being targeted and therefore are notifying all of their license holders.

Officials fear
the scam could be more effective than a typical e-mail solicitation because the department does contact licenses holders through e-mail about disciplinary issues. But Poreda said an official notice is typically also sent via regular mail.

“It’s important for people to know that this contact is not coming from us,” she said.

Anyone who gets a suspicious warning of disciplinary action from the department is being asked to call 850-487-1395 and report it to law enforcement.

The Federal Trade Commission reported earlier this year that Florida ranked first in the nation last year for the number of identity theft complaints per capita. Georgia followed, with California coming in third.

Florida’s top identity theft complaints came from fraud relating to government documents, such as tax returns, followed by credit card fraud and bank fraud.

To view the original article, click here: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/business/real-estate/florida-realtors-warned-about-identity-theft-scam/nSXmq/

If these scammers are hitting Florida, you can bet they’re headed your way soon. Let's all get the word out to our data base NOW.

 

 

 

Oct 21, 2012 12:44 PM
Beth Paterson
Reverse Mortgages SIDAC, LLC, NMLS #1790592 - Saint Paul, MN
CRMP, NMLS #342859

We have to be so careful on what we open via email and internet sites.  I too receive the yellow page offers and have read down to the small print.  There are a lot of attacks on those of us in the mortgage world who are doing good things, these regulators should be focusing on those who are doing these scams instead of an industry where there are already lots of regulations in place. it would be a lot more productive for them.  And I sure wish the hackers would put their talents to a better and more productive use.

Oct 21, 2012 02:37 PM
Nancy Hankin
RE/MAX Real Estate Consultants - Palm Springs, CA

Those Yellow Page Faxes are one of the worse SCAMS around because they are a bogus company OUT-OF-THE-COUNTRY and there is no way to contact them.

Oct 22, 2012 03:28 AM
Nancy Hankin
RE/MAX Real Estate Consultants - Palm Springs, CA

I was just emailed this Virus a few minutes ago. So here is another WARNING on VIRUSES!

BEWARE of a BETTER BUSINESS letter stating someone has FILED A COMPLAINT against you.

They ask you to look at the complaint in PDF form, however, if you look carefully, it will show you that it is actually an APPLICATION, not a pdf file. And I guarantee you, there will be a VIRUS downloaded into your computer as soon as you try opening the BOGUS PDF.

Is there no end to this insanity?

Oct 22, 2012 03:43 AM
Bill Dean
Haggerty Team St. Louis, Mo. - Fenton, MO
William Dean - Broker, Salesperson

Nancy,

i did an AR search for hacked email and fund you excellent article.  The link t leo's inf was a great idea!  I did this search because the last week r so I have seen several folks clients and agents getting their emails hacked.  This should have been a featured post.  I am reblogging your post so more will see it.  Thanks!

Feb 08, 2013 07:13 AM
Nancy Hankin
RE/MAX Real Estate Consultants - Palm Springs, CA

Bill:

Glad you were able to locate the article. As you can see by the responses, even though AR did not FEATURE this post, many saw it and have re-blogged it. Yes, we can't be too aware of what's lurking in Cyber-World!

Feb 08, 2013 09:43 AM