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S. Fla. Broker Sued for Sending Unsolicited Spam Texts

S. Fla. Broker Sued for Sending Unsolicited Spam Texts

by DeVore Design, February 25, 2020

A customer who alleges that a real estate broker sent spam texts filed a lawsuit against the broker. The Real Deal calls it “the latest case brought by a pair of local attorneys targeting brokers and agents who are allegedly breaking federal law that prohibits abusing mass text messaging for unsolicited advertisements.”

The Weston brokerage allegedly sent information texts about home buying with a suggestion to read the article on the brokers’ website.

The lawsuit was filed in Miami federal court, and the plaintiff hopes it will become a class action suit. He says the broker has sent two other automatic texts over the past six months.

The law firm representing the plaintiff has filed lawsuits against at least three real estate brokers before this, according to The Real Deal. Previous lawsuits focused on brokers in Pembroke Pines, Celebration and Naples. Two of those lawsuits were settled but the terms weren’t disclosed.

The lawsuit accuses the brokerage of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act when it used an automated dialing system because it didn’t have the customer’s prior consent. As proof, the plaintiff offered two screenshots of the messages. According to The Real Deal, the first one said, “Hi (customer’s name), I found this article and I want to share it with you. Let me know what you think.” The customer could then click on a link to go to the full article.

The second message arrived two months later and said “Hi (customer’s name), guess what most Americans are saying about home ownership and check out the entire South and Central Florida housing inventory for free at (broker’s website address.)”

For more information on illegal robocalls and the risk they present for brokers and agents, read “You Could Be Sending Illegal Robocalls and Not Know It,” on Florida Realtors’ website.

Source: The Real Deal, South Florida Real Estate News, Feb. 24, 2020, Francisco Alvarado; research by Jerome Dineen

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