Safeguarding Your Clients From Deepfake Scams
Technology has been continuously evolving in this digital era, and along with it, so have scams. It seems like just as we get used to combating one type of scam, a new one pops up in the real estate industry. For years, a common scam likely involved a suspicious email from someone purporting to be a title company, instructing your buyers to wire funds for closing. Now, we’re facing a new set of threats, especially with recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence.
Despite AI’s positive attributes and qualities, scammers have been using AI to impersonate the written and voice communications of real estate professionals, mortgage brokers, title agents, and even buyers and sellers. It is more important now than ever to take into consideration how AI is being used when dealing with sensitive information and how to implement strategies to prevent scams and impersonations from occurring.
According to Florida Realtors®, “Sophisticated scammers can hijack real estate transactions using deepfake audio and video to impersonate agents and others involved in transactions.”
With this in mind, now is the time to create a sense of urgency for your clients to be vigilant for calls that could be using voice clones generated by AI. The ability to use AI has many positive functions, but it has also made it more difficult to decipher real information, especially when it comes to real estate transactions. The good news is there are many methods you and your consumers can use to help ensure information and identities are safe.
Safeguarding Strategies:
Create awareness at the beginning of a transaction by telling clients that fraud can occur.
Ask buyers and sellers to always verify identities, implement secure payment procedures, and adopt strict security measures.
Avoid downloading or clicking on suspicious links when receiving emails, texts, or other digital communications unless you have verified the identity of the sender.
Triple-check sources before acting right away. For example, if you are on a video call, phone call, or communicating over email, go over the information once again in person or call the number directly.
Limit access to your personal information online by adjusting the settings of your social media. Only give those whom you trust the ability to view your high-quality photos and videos.
Stay abreast of the latest scams by following news about technologies to help recognize potential suspicious content.
Creating awareness of how we perform and interact with transactions is extremely important. You and your clients should keep this in mind when dealing with sensitive information and always keep important information guarded. With AI becoming a challenge when facing deepfake impersonations, face-to-face contact has never been more important. Realtors® can act by stressing the importance of always verifying information, using secure channels of communication, and even using apps that can encrypt emails when dealing with clients or colleagues about sensitive real estate information. Implementing these steps into the daily routine can help to prevent scams from happening and help to ensure that sensitive information is being protected at all costs.
By RWorld Staff
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