The head of a regional real estate association has sent out an alert and a safety advisory after three female real estate professionals received suspicious texts and calls that appeared legitimate.
Paul Chasse, CEO of Realtor Association of Southeastern Massachusetts, said two female employees in a Somerset real estate office received text messages from brokers on Monday asking to speak with them, only to later learn the brokers never contacted them. RASEM represents 1,350 real estate professionals from the Cape Cod Canal to the Rhode Island border as well as Attleboro and Brockton.
Then on Tuesday, a female worker in a Westport real estate office received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the Bristol County Sheriff's Department and saying there was a warrant for her arrest, according to Chasse. The woman was told to surrender to authorities at a particular address. The worker terminated the call, called the Sheriff's Department and learned it was a ruse.
"They are either beginning a conversation or trying to set up a meeting. Our thought is it is the same person using a different MO," Chasse said.
The similarity in the text messages and phone call is that they were all "spoofed" communications — appearing to be from the actual phone numbers of people and organizations, but really stolen caller ID's, Chasse said.
Jonathan Darling, a spokesman for Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson, said real estate professionals are not the only ones being singled out. The department received complaints from six people Monday and Tuesday from people saying they were contacted by someone from the Sheriff's Department about a warrant for their arrest or money owed.
The phone numbers appearing on people's caller ID's are Sheriff's Department numbers and the people are identifying themselves with legitimate names of Sheriff Department employees, he said.
"It's certainly troubling. We're not happy about it," Darling said. "It's all a scam. We don't make any calls like that."
When they serve papers, they do it in person and all fines and bails are paid at the Bristol County House of Correction or the Ash Street Jail, he said.
Darling said Sheriff's Department investigators are compiling the complaints and will bring it to the Dartmouth Police Department.
"Spoofing. That's the root of the problem," said Westport Detective Jeffrey Majewski, explaining Wednesday he was not aware of the incident involving the real estate professional in Westport. Majewski advised people to contact the appropriate person, if the call or the text seems suspicious.
Somerset Police Chief George M. McNeil could not be reached for comment.
Chasse said the real estate field, which has a predominately female work force, is "a dangerous profession," since salespeople and brokers are often meeting strangers alone for the first time in an unoccupied home.
He said he teaches a safety course to real estate office staff and agents and advises them to conduct their first meeting with a client or a buyer in a public place or in an office with people present.
He also recommends real estate professionals be candid about the need to ask personal questions for safety reasons as well as searching Google and social media before meeting a person, he said.