We all know Social Security numbers are not the only thing Internet thieves are taking off hard drives. Customer leads generate billions of dollars for Internet thieves. We also know much of that money funds radical groups like the ones we see on the news everyday, like Isis.
Go ahead and check the hits on your own Real Estate website. I checked mine. It has thousands of visits from Russia, China, and other overseas countries. Internet thieves are constantly trolling my web site, and most likely, every Real Estate Agent's web site looking for any piece of information they can sell to the highest bidders.
I received a call from one of those so called, “lead generation companies.” I think there are more people selling Internet leads than there are Real Estate Agents. Hardly a day goes by I don't receive a call from one of those people. Talk to them. You'll be surprised what they are willing to tell you to make a sale. Ask them how they obtain their leads. Of course they will mask their answer, using some technical terms. Ask how they get their leads from the Internet. Do they use the terms mining, trolling or robots? Ask them if they are taking information from hard drives. When you hit that question, the answer will most likely be, “third party sources.” Then ask if those are overseas sources. You'll hear the other end of the line grow dead.
I questioned one of the people. They caught onto where I was going. Then I told them to call it what it is. They are asking me to be an accessory to crime. That will push a button or two. To me, their come back was to say, “you'll have to pay us, or someone else. If you don't, you'll be out of business within a year.” Internet theft has spread to extortion. Internet thieves now expect us to pay for protection like our grandparents had to pay to protect their businesses from strong arm thugs. Today they use the Internet to extract huge protection fees.
Are we going to roll over and pay like the rest of the world? Or is the Real Estate industry going to stand up against these thugs and hopefully put them out of business? Is it time to stand up and show America, as Real Estate Agents we deserve respect and trust by being leaders in not only the Real Estate market, but Internet Security?
No one has any facts or figures on Internet theft. Although Internet theft is the easiest crime to trace, it is fully ignored by every branch of law enforcement as well as the US military. The same technology Internet thieves use to gather data can be used to trace their exact location, and at the same time, gather information from their computers. In a nanosecond law enforcement agencies can copy their list of customers and see the entire chain of this organized crime.
Look at what has happened so far. Look at the number of successful businesses that have gone bankrupt. How did all those successful businesses, some of them second and third generation suddenly fall? Were their computer records including customer lists hijacked and sold to competitors? You better believe it. Look at how many jobs were lost. Look at how those job losses lead to the greatest number of foreclosures in the history of this nation. Then look at who is in the center of it all – the Real Estate industry. No wonder the public doesn't trust us.
We may be the only organized industry in the world to stand up to this organized crime and put a stop to it. We may be the only voice to raise in the hour when we need change the most. Do we have the guts to ask the American people if they really trust the sale or purchase of their homes to people who are accessories to crime? Do we really have the guts to ask people if they really trust thieves, and agents who pay fees with large sums of money supporting terrorism all over the world? Do we have enough guts to look at this problem for what it is? Do we have the guts it's gonna take to stand up and demand federal laws outlawing the purchase of any and all Internet leads? Or has the problem become so wide spread, those in charge depend upon those services to make their fortunes? Don't they realize, they are nothing more than puppets on a string?
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