Fraud Is on the Rise — Here’s What LSAR Is Doing
Isaac Chambers, LSAR Membership Coordinator
Over the past few weeks, LSAR staff have noticed an uptick in suspicious emails sent to our general account by people posing as LSAR members and requesting that we update contact or account information on their behalf. These messages often look legitimate at first glance. They use a member’s name, sometimes reference real transaction details, and ask us to make a quick change to an email address or login on file.
We want to be upfront with you about this because you may be seeing similar attempts targeting your own accounts, whether that’s with LSAR, your MLS login, your brokerage, or your personal email and banking. Fraud like this is on the rise across the industry, and real estate professionals are a common target because so much of our work involves moving information and money quickly.
Here’s what we’re doing on our end
No changes to member contact information, login credentials, or account access will be made at LSAR without a signed Agent Change Form. This applies no matter how the request is worded, how urgent it sounds, or how convincing the email appears. If someone reaches out claiming to be you and asking for an update, our staff will require that signed form before touching anything. We’d rather slow a legitimate request down for a day than let a fraudulent one through.
Here’s what we’d ask of you
A few habits go a long way in protecting yourself:
- Be cautious with emails asking you to “confirm” or “update” account information, even if they appear to come from someone you know or a company you work with. Verify by phone or through a separate, known channel before responding.
- Watch for small inconsistencies: a slightly altered email address, an unusual sense of urgency, or a request that skips normal steps.
- Never send login credentials, passwords, or sensitive account details over email.
- If something feels off, contact us directly. We’re happy to confirm whether a request actually came from LSAR.
If you receive a suspicious email that appears to reference LSAR or claims to be from our office, please forward it to us so we can track patterns and warn others if needed.
This is a good moment for a general reminder: legitimate organizations, including LSAR, will never ask you to bypass standard verification steps to make an urgent change. When in doubt, slow down and call.