As we noted in a previous post an extremely dangerous fraud scheme is going around South Florida and is targeting Realtors and their clients. It was also noted that there are a few things you can do to protect yourselves and your customers from these attacks. I have included the Do’s and Don’ts below.
2 step authentication is one of the best things you can do to protect your accounts. The link below offers 2 step authentication for various websites, such as Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo Mail etc. If you need assistance enabling the 2 step authentication, please log into EWM’s live help.
http://lifehacker.com/5938565/heres-everywhere-you-should-enable-two-factor-authentication-right-now
DO’S
– Be skeptical of any emails from strangers or even e-leads.
– Hover over links in your email with your mouse to see the true source of the link.
– If you have a Gmail account, register for the 2-step verification process that will alert you if someone accesses your account from anywhere except a trusted device. The link to register is: https://www.google.com/landing/2step/.
– Have a list of basic questions to ask a new e-lead or customer to make sure you’re dealing with a bona fide customer before you proceed to do a property search.
– Report suspicious emails to [email protected]
DON’T’s
– Open attachments from unidentified sources as these may contain phishing emails.
– Click on links from unidentified sources as these may contain phishing emails.
Attachments and links in unidentified emails basically hack into your accounts and track your email activity to see who you are communicating with and then begin communicating directly with your client and giving them false information.
Other links:
List of websites and whether or not they support 2 step authentication. https://twofactorauth.org/
This is a great article from CNET with instructions on how to set up 2-step on popular websites http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-enable-two-factor-authentication-on-popular-sites/
If you have any questions please email [email protected]