Members have been receiving referral emails from legitimate Realtors throughout the US.  One such Realtor that we’ve heard has been sent to Berkshire members is Barbara Dunlap. She is the unfortunate victim of this scam, and is a real Realtor in California. Our own Donna Thomas in North Adams has been the victim of this same spoof, with messages containing her name and information sent to other parts of the US.  The e-mail basically says that they are a Realtor with correct signatures (INCLUDING CORRECT LICENSE NUMBERS), but a bogus phone number.  The messages explain that they have a couple looking for a house in this area and would like to set up a referral – and provide a goggle link to some of the listings the ”Buyers” are interested in.  When clicking on the link, it downloads a Trojan.HTML.Phishing.LG virus with a very severe threat level.

1) if you receive the email, delete it immediately.

2) if you have clicked on the link and your antivirus didn’t pop up, you most likely have a virus that is running in the background of your computer and very dangerous to the security of your files – seek geek help immediately.

3) in the future, if you receive an email like this and want to determine the veracity, instead of emailing or calling the information listed in the message, google the listing agent and call them using the phone number found on their website instead of the number given. That will solve 99.9% of the issues!

Be safe out there!