Phishing Scams Disguised as Housing/Real Estate Corporations
In mid-December, 2019 we published a detailed article about a fake website called “Patriot Housing Group Corporation” which was being used to collect very personal information from people, including social security numbers. We detailed about 10 reasons why this website was suspicious and an irrefutable fraud, including the fact that the entire “Executive Team” of 4 people consisted of stolen photos with fake names. The cybercriminals who created this website have since created 4 more nearly identical websites to collect people’s personal information. These new scam websites are…
Venus Housing Group – http://venushousing.com/ (Registered 3/8/21)
BlueGreen Housing Real Estate Company – http://bluegreenhousing.com/ (Registered 7/3/20)
Group 1 Homes Real Estate Company – http://group1homes.com/ (Registered 1/16/21)
Unit Real Estate Corporation – http://www.unitrealestatecorp.com/ (Registered 2/22/21)
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IF YOU HAVE GIVEN YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION TO ANY OF THESE FAKE BUSINESSES,
YOU SHOULD PROTECT YOURSELF AGAINST IDENTITY THEFT:
https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10064.pdf
https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/3-steps-to-take-if-your-social-security-number-has-been-stolen/
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/what-to-do-ssn-stolen,news-18742.html
Most importantly, contact one of the 3 major credit reporting agencies
(Experian.com, Transunion.com or Equifax.com) and put a credit freeze and fraud alert on your account.
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A visit to any one of these websites will show readers that they are essentially identical to the Patriot Housing Group Corporation scam site. Despite the fact that these sites are identical to the fraudulent Patriot Housing Group Corporation scam site, we’ll detail another 4 reasons WHY all of these websites are also fraudulent.
- Your Personal Data is Sent to a Yahoo Email Address: Each one of these real estate websites invites people to apply for a job. To facilitate your application, you are asked to complete a U.S. government I-9 form online. However, ALL of your personal data that you enter is being sent to a generic Yahoo email address called: guyallen3444 @ yahoo.com
—Here is one example of the form taken as a screenshot from Venus Housing Group:
–Also, note that this is NOT a form sitting on any U.S. Government website, or the Department of Homeland Security, as stated at the top of the form. Also, this form is on a website that is NOT SECURE! No legitimate service will EVER collect your personal details, including birth date and social security number, via an online form that is NOT SECURE!
–Here are the forms, and behind the scenes web coding from two of the other websites, showing the same issues. (The form at Group1Homes was broken when we visited.)
2. Photos with Names are Stolen Images: The criminals who created these fake websites aren’t even bothering to change most of the photos they’ve stolen from around the Internet. For example, our article about “Patriot Housing Group Corporation” made it very clear that their “Executive Team” used stolen images that were then given fictitious names. For example…
“Paul Kellerman, Chief Housing Officer” is really a man named Joulian McGougan
“Sharon Gill, Vice President” is really a woman named “Sharon Clews” and still at TechUK.org
And “Brenda Boston, Chief Project Director” is really a woman named Elizabeth Cobbson
. 
But these aren’t the only fake people on these websites! We found ALL of the other photos of people to be stolen from around the Internet and slapped with fictitious names, such as…
“Kim Reynolds, Office Manager” is a Real Estate Agent named Dawn Campbell
“Lacey Houston, National Hiring Director” is really a Realtor named Dana Yates
“Cassandra Murray, VP of Human Relations” is really a woman named Elisha Silvera who works with non-profits
3. The Fake websites CLAIM to be registered with the Better Business Bureau, but that is a lie! The bottom of each website shows several icons that suggest they are registered with, or are members of, a particular service. It is all another lie!
BBB.org doesn’t know who Group1 Homes Real Estate Company is.
BBB.org doesn’t know who Unit Real Estate Company is.
4. Links and Graphics on these sites are for other sites/services and NOT the website represented.
All of these bogus websites are filled with links, buttons and other graphics that come from other websites and services. For example, all of these sites invite visitors to download their app to “Pay your rent in 8 seconds and build your credit history.” But the graphics representing this app were stolen from a service called PayYourRent.com, and the links point to that app in the Apple Store and on Google Play. These 4 fake websites point to other services but lead you to think that these services are part of, or created by, these bogus services. Other such services include a “Tenant Portal” from http://perezgroup.appfolio.com/connect/users/sign_in
Also, these businesses claim to have nearly 12,000 rental units and 71 “locally managed offices.” So why is it impossible to find an address for any one of their 71 offices? The answer, as you’ve guessed by now, is because these businesses are pure fiction! They exist only to trick visitors into handing over their very personal information. The next time you’re asked to hand over your personal information to any online service or website, VERIFY, VERIFY, VERIFY!