Your BBB wants local businesses to beware of a new twist on a wire transfer scam that has popped up in neighboring states and could be headed toward Central Ohio. So far, landscaping, electrical and tree service contractors have been contacted in neighboring states.

Here are the reports BBB has received: A “customer” calls a landscaping, electrical or tree service contracting business claiming to be an out-of-state client who owns a local property. The “customer” offers to pay upfront with a credit card, but explains that another contractor for a different type of work has also been at the property but could not accept credit cards, so they were unable to pay them. They offer to pay you the amount for your work with some extra money, asking for you to pay the other contractor for them by wiring the money to them.

After processing the full amount on the card and wiring the money, businesses were contacted by the credit card company stating that the card was stolen and the charges were reversed, leaving the businesses out the wired money. Other businesses found that the card number was declined. The “customer” responded by asking them to try other credit card numbers they had on hand that were also most likely stolen.
BBB tips for avoiding this scam:
Be wary of anyone who is willing to pay you extra money, especially if they ask for you to wire money back to them or to a third-party. Receiving checks or other methods of over-payment is most likely a scam.

Do not be afraid to ask questions. If an out-of-town client who is not willing to meet you in person seems suspicious, they most likely are. Meeting the client beforehand face-to-face and doing a walk-through of the work that needs to be done is a good way to build trust on both ends.

Trust your gut in high pressure situations. It can be tempting to take a credit card upfront if someone is willing, but ask yourself “Why the rush?”, especially with a contracting job. A business’s comfort level is just as important as the consumer’s.

Talk it over. If a job seems strange, like a client asking you to pay one of their other contractors, talk it over with your colleagues or call your BBB at 614-486-6336 for assistance.

Business owners and consumers can visit BBB Scam Tracker to see which scams are near you.

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02/10/2017

Two separate member brokerages (involving a total of four affected agents) have reported that a couple, Amber Taylor and Colton MacGregor, currently residing in Somerset, Ohio, looking at homes in the $300,000 to $600,000 price range, had written fraudulent contracts on two different properties (one in Athens and the other in Hocking County). Once in contract, the buyer’s produced fictitious proof of funds in the form of a fake e-mail posing as a Merrill Lynch Financial Advisor. When the agents were unable get in contact with anyone listed in the initial e-mail to verify funds, the prospective buyers apologized and said they sent the wrong contact info and sent new Merrill Lynch info. After contacting the second Merrill Lynch rep, they had no knowledge of the clients or the financial advisor that was listed in the second e-mail. These individuals sell a story about the male having only months to live and are spending his retirement money for a home to pass away in peace. They are clever at establishing trust with the agents. In the first fraudulent instance, the prospective buyers had several conversations with the sellers about purchasing items in the home at closing. They even convinced one of the sellers to allow them to take a few antiques, prior to closing, without paying, of which they did. These fraudulent buyers do not have funds to purchase a home.

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02/02/2017

2/2/17 – We are seeing that the Photo Upload functionality looks to be restored.

Original Post:

Starting at around 11:45am today, we were made aware of some issues with the photo upload ability within the Flexmls system. When attempting to use the photo uploader, it’s very likely that you’ll either receive an error message on the photo uploading process, or, if you are able to load a photo, you’ll get items that display like below:

At this time, if you are seeing the errors messages or blank photos as seen above, there is nothing you are doing incorrectly. This issue is affecting all users of the MLS system. At this time, one option would be to try to use the Original Photo Upload tool available in the upper right.

This post was added recently as our MLS vendor, FBS, has confirmed the issue and is currently working towards a fix. At this time, they did not provide us with an ETA as to when the issues would be resolved. When we find out more, we will update this post.

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02/01/2017

Vendor update 6:00PM: At about 3:15p Central Time, we were notified that the upstream issue had been resolved, and that the email queues were draining to a normal level. We’ve been monitoring the situation since then, and it appears that emails for all of the top domains are back in line with their typical delivery speeds. At this point, we’re confident this issue resolved, and will update back here if anything changes.

Vendor update: 3:07PM: Our mail delivery provider is currently working to resolve this issue. From our perspective, it appears as if the majority of emails are flowing again, without delay, however some recipient domains (notably gmail.com) still appear to have a fairly high delivery delay.

Please be aware that delivery of some email from the MLS is being delayed.  The headline for this story will be updated when this issue is resolved.

Original: Tech support received the following message from FBS, our MLS vendor:

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Since approximately 10:40a, we’ve been experiencing a delay in the delivery of emails from flexmls. We’re currently working with our email delivery provider to determine the cause of this delay and resolve it. At this time, we’re not aware of any loss of emails — that is to say that any emails that were generated will be eventually delivered, albeit with a delay.

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01/31/2017

Columbus REALTORS® will open one hour late on Friday, January 27.  Doors will open at 9:30am.

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01/22/2017

CoreLogic will be performing system maintenance on the evening of Saturday, January 21, 2017 beginning at 11:00 PM through 4:00 AM Sunday morning.  Realist may be intermittently unavailable during this maintenance period.

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01/19/2017

The Columbus REALTORS association headquarters will be closed on Monday, January 16 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  The association will open for normal business hours on Tuesday at 8:30am.

Schedule:
Monday, January 16, 2017 – Closed
Tuesday, January 17, 2017 – Open at 8:30am

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01/13/2017

We frequently receive calls to the MLS inquiring whether an Office Exclusive Waiver form is on file for a particular property where signage is placed. Frequently there is no form on file and a warning or fine must be assessed to the agent named on the sign. MLS policy mandates that a listing must be submitted to MLS within 48 hours from the date the listing agreement is signed or an Office Exclusive Waiver form must be on file. If the 48-hour limit falls on a weekend or federal holiday, the listing or form must be submitted on the next business day.

Actual MLS Policy:
1.02.02 – Listing Not Submitted to MLS                                                                                   Fine with Warning

Warning, $100, $200, $500

Listings required in MLS but not to be displayed initially in MLS at the request of the seller shall be submitted to MLS within 48 hours from the date signed except weekends and federal holidays whereby the data is to be entered the following business day or the Office Exclusive Waiver Form found on CR’s web site at http://www.columbusrealtors.com shall be on file with the MLS.

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From Columbus REALTORS®

Tricia Segnini with A-List Realty reported that after her closing on 1/9/17, she received an e-mail appearing to come from her broker (but did not) stating that she needed to transfer funds. Her closing wasn’t mentioned specifically in the e-mail, but she felt it may be what triggered the bogus e-mail, which did list her broker’s name and his correct e-mail address along with a fake e-mail address ceomailme@mail.com. Tricia wanted to make colleagues aware of this scam. Please report wire fraud complaints to the FBI at www.ic3.gov.

This report and more details can be found here

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01/11/2017