Agents spend years practicing the skill of building relationships, whether it’s making quick friends with a local coffee shop owner, thoughtfully responding to dozens of comments across their social media pages, or carefully tending to a growing database of clients and colleagues.
Often, these efforts pay off in the form of a banner sales year, the chance to start a team, or the joy of getting a referral from a former buyer or seller.
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However, the stories of slain and scammed agents are sober reminders of the risks the business entails — risks that are evolving as bad actors use emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes, to trick agents into dangerous situations.
Weeding out the fakes
Sharon Love Bates
“What’s happening is that these deep fake technologies are getting better and better, and it’s really hard to detect what’s real and what’s fake,” said Sharon Love Bates, the National Association of Realtors’ director of emerging technology. “These are some of the pretty scary things that are actually happening today, and unfortunately, it’s something that we can’t avoid.”
“There are so many bad actors out here that spend time just figuring out ways to dupe the next person, so they can make a quick buck,” she added.
Love Bates said deepfake technology has improved at a blistering pace over the past few years, enabling bad actors to create convincing personas, often based on real professionals. Since people have become more aware of the subtle signs of a deepfake, like unnatural blinking or misplaced shadows, the NAR director said scammers have turned to voice-cloning tools that can be trained to generate voices that sound eerily similar to colleagues and clients.
Love Bates said agents can fight AI with AI, pointing to tools that can detect fraudulent videos and voice messages. However, these tools aren’t 100 percent effective, with some deepfakes still subverting the system.
“You have to do your due diligence to make sure that you’re using a tool from a reputable company,” she said. “It’s not going to catch everything. Maybe it will catch a certain percentage, and that’s great, but you still have to use some human vigilance to identify bad behavior. It’s definitely a combination of using technology to help in this space, but also just using your gut instincts as well.”
Love Bates said agents should create policies requiring initial client meetings to be held at the brokerage and alert clients that they’ll need to show their state-issued ID and other available documentation, such as a pre-approval letter, which can be copied, stored and verified.
“It’s your right to have that information to verify the person,” she said. “If they come with a pre-approval letter, take a copy of that. You can call the loan officer directly to confirm that this person actually got approved. These are simple steps that I think initially anyone can take to help verify who their client is.”
Slow it down and verify
Josh Jarboe
REMAX Empire broker-owner Josh Jarboe said creating an iron-clad verification process has shielded his brokerage from falling prey to the uptick in scammers that have entered the market, looking to take advantage of buyers, sellers and agents — especially newbies — whose anxiety might lead them to accept a deal that’s too good to be true.
“I have a rather youthful office that’s very active on social media, and their safety is of the utmost importance,” he said. “Sometimes they just are so excited about the potential that they forget to ask qualifying questions. I did that too early in my career. I call it bad hustle. It’s dangerous.”
Jarboe said he’s doubled down on agent safety training in his office, with a portion of his monthly sales meetings focused on AI, online safety, proper client verification, and additional safety tips for showings and open houses.
The Kentucky broker said he reminds his agents to send potential clients the state’s consumer guide and Fair Housing bulletin, which he said most agents tend to bypass, even though it’s required. He also tells agents to hold buyer and seller presentations at the office, where they’ll be asked to show their ID to ensure any information they provided online matches.
Lastly, he advises agents to ask clients where they are in the financing process and review their pre-approval or pre-qualification letter, which can help weed out potential scammers when they realize there’s a verification process.
“It puts people who might be scammers or just might be ‘tire kickers’ on their heels, and for the people who are real and qualified buyers, it actually turns into a positive, where they’re like, ‘Oh, well, this agent knows what they’re doing,'” he said.
Jarboe said these steps help mitigate the risk of danger to his agents once they’re out in the field. However, his team still has an emergency plan in place if something goes awry.
“Even if they’ve met them in person, they still share their location at all times,” he said. “If they ever have a weird feeling or interaction with them while they’re at the property, they can text or call anyone in the office, give their address, and say, ‘Pull the red file.’ We know to immediately call the authorities and get them some help.”
Protecting your brand
Lauren Balbuena
NYC-based Keller Williams Core Team Leader Lauren Balbuena has gotten a front-row seat to the damage that bad actors can do with AI.
Several months ago, Balbuena’s brokerage issued a consumer warning about scammers creating websites that mimic brokerage sites and steal listings and agent information. The scammers are stealing content from agents’ social media profiles and using deepfake and voice cloning technology to further the fraud, which includes asking renters for four-figure broker and application fees for a unit.
“The scammer created a fake website for The Skyward Team, and they had fake agent profiles on the website and created fake social media profiles where they interacted with consumers, who thought they were real,” she said. “A lot of these scams are ticking up, in my opinion, because there’s been a lot of changing rules.”
Balbuena said scammers are also taking advantage of the fact that consumers are used to a digitized property search experience, and are often comfortable with FaceTime calls and virtual tours to make decisions. This trend is even stronger among out-of-towners, who may not have time to search in person before moving to NYC for school or a new job.
“In a post-COVID world, people are comfortable doing virtual showings. Ten years ago, it might have been so weird to say you’re going to rent a property or purchase a property through FaceTime and virtual tours, but that actually happens a lot more with credible agents,” she said. “But it makes it easier for people to fall for these kinds of scams.”
The team leader said she’s advising agents to conduct regular Google and social media searches for their names and content, so they can flag whether a scammer is using their information elsewhere and alert consumers. “I’m not saying spend every day obsessing, but as regularly as you can search yourself and report those accounts using your content,” she said.
Don’t be overwhelmed
Love Bates, Jarboe and Balbuena said that although AI has complicated the safety landscape, agents don’t have to be overwhelmed with fear.
A straightforward verification process, a solid online and in-person safety plan, and regular training through your brokerage or local Realtor association can help keep everyone safe throughout the transaction process. And if you realize you or a client has been scammed, Love Bates said honesty is the best policy, enabling your broker to step in and help mitigate any damage.
“Everyone makes mistakes,” she said. “Tell your managing broker what happened, and they can decide whether it’s something they need to tell a corporate legal team or local and federal authorities. You need to do everything you can to mitigate this issue. These [fraudulent] videos, these voicemails, they’re getting harder to spot. But you have to be honest when something goes wrong.”
