The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® would like to pass this warning from the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). NAR is alerting members about a website of suspicious origin, which is misusing the REALTOR® trademark in what seems to be an attempt to get money from real estate practitioners.

The site, Realtor-complaints.com, supposedly publishes consumer complaints about real estate agents. However, an investigation by the New Jersey Association of REALTORS® showed a string of complaints against its members, all using similar phrasing, which leads to suspicion that the complaints are not legitimate. Moreover, when agents who have been the subject of a complaint attempt to make contact, the site offers them the “opportunity” to pay to have the complaint and have their name removed from the site.

NAR legal staff checked the WHOIS record for the site and discovered it is hosted on servers located in the Seychelles. NAR found that the site was recorded as having been initially registered on January 1, 2013, making the site’s claim of having been around since 2002 very suspect.

NAR has received a number of calls from members who have been informed via email that their name is listed at the site. NAR attorneys are investigating and, if necessary, will take steps to have the site shut down.

 

 

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