SmartMLS and Property Shield—a real estate fraud detection and prevention company—announced a new partnership that will bring listing fraud detection and removal tools to more than 20,000 real estate professionals across Connecticut. The new service is expected to launch in mid-October.
According to a release, the Connecticut-based MLS will integrate Property Shield’s Listing Fraud Protection technology into its platform, helping identify fraudulent advertisements that copy legitimate MLS listings and use property addresses, photos and other listing information to target consumers.
“Real estate fraud is becoming increasingly sophisticated, and we believe MLSs have an important role to play in giving real estate professionals better tools to identify and respond to it,” SmartMLS CEO Kathy Elson said. “Our partnership with Property Shield provides a layer of protection for our users, their clients and Connecticut consumers without creating complicated system for agents to manage.”
Protecting listings across the web
Property Shield’s technology monitors active SmartMLS listings and searches the open web for advertisements that reuse a property’s address, photos or listing information.
Potential mismatches such as a home listed for sale through SmartMLS appearing elsewhere as a rental, or an advertisement containing different pricing or property information can be identified and flagged for review.
When suspicious activity involving a listing is detected, the listing agent is notified and can review the advertisement. If the agent confirms that it is fraudulent, Property Shield initiates the takedown process.
The monitoring happens largely in the background, requiring action from the real estate professional only when potentially fraudulent activity is identified.
“Property Shield was built specifically to help MLS organizations and real estate professionals combat fraud without adding unnecessary complexity to their daily workflow,” Property Shield CEO Alexander Fahsel continued. “By working with SmartMLS, we’re able to help protect legitimate listing content while giving real estate professionals a practical way to respond when that information is misused online.”
Built into the SmartMLS experience
Property Shield’s Listing Fraud Protection will be integrated with SmartMLS so users will not need to continually search the internet themselves for fraudulent copies of their listings. Listing agents will receive alerts when suspicious activity involving their properties is identified. Brokers, office administrators and team leaders will also have access to tools that allow them to monitor flagged activity across their organizations.
The new Listing Fraud Protection service will be provided to SmartMLS users at no additional cost, the release notes.
SmartMLS expects to launch Property Shield’s Listing Fraud Protection in mid-October.
In the release, SmartMLS states that this is the first of several new fraud-prevention tools the company plans to introduce through its partnership with Property Shield. SmartMLS expects to make additional Property Shield fraud detection and prevention tools available to its users before the end of the year.
“Listing fraud is only one of the ways real estate professionals and consumers are being targeted,” Elson said. “Our goal is to continue adding tools that help our users identify potential fraud earlier and provide additional protection throughout the real estate transaction.”
For more information, visit smartmls.com.
