With auction levels beginning to strengthen and state borders beginning to re-open, now is the time to make the most of clients looking to buy and sell.
Technology can make it easier to facilitate a property deal, however your client may have concerns when it comes to security. The good news is, as with most things, some technologies are better than others to protect your clients from cybercrime.
Cybercrime is reported every 10 minutes in Australia, and property funds have the attention of scammers. The transparent nature of the property industry and documentation and contract requirements makes it more vulnerable.
Every transaction gets listed on a major listing site, so every property and its agent is available for everyone to see, including the scammers. There’s also a lot of parties involved, meaning more chance for things to go wrong.
Harcourts CEO Victoria and Tasmania Tony Morrison reports that most of the Harcourts agencies, based in Tasmania and Victoria, have been reporting an uptick in fraud attempts from 18 months ago.
“We have really noticed how much more it is happening, and unfortunately, some of the attempts have been successful and we have had several agencies that have found themselves seriously out of pocket,” Mr Morrison said.
“There can be big sums involved in transactions, and criminals are aware of that, so that is why we, as an industry, are being targeted.
“Coupled with this, when it comes to an exchange, there are lots of different parties involved, so the chances of something going wrong increases.”
The right technology can reduce the risk of being hacked or scammed.
Securexchange, which has won multiple business awards, aims to cyber-proof the property process through the use of a collaborative and secure workspace that all the various parties involved in the deal can communicate and share documents including the agent, conveyancer, lawyer, buyer and seller.
What make Securexchange unique, is that users are invited into the workspace.
So, rather than sending trust account details or contracts, via email, where they could be intercepted by hackers – all parties are invited into the workspace to complete the relevant tasks associated with a property exchange.
Lee Bailie, Head of Securexchange, explained how it works.
“Securexchange offers one central workspace for all those documents involved in a property deal.
“All involved parties can see what stage the property deal is up to, and with two-factor authentication, it’s kept private from external, non-verified access. It’s safe and it gets rid of the need for many emails. We designed it so it fits easily with the software and programs that all those parties use.”
Since its launch in March 2018, Securexchange has protected over 5000 parties involved in property deals since March 2018. It keeps all property deposit funds and private documents 100 per cent safe from hackers, backed by a financial guarantee.
Real Estate Agent Ashley Miles from Red Property in Manly was an early adopter of the Securexchange platform and said he’s loving it.
“We started using Securexchange to share trust account details. Before we would send an email or text and then call up to verify,” Mr Miles said.
“So, nothing could get done unless we could physically get hold of someone on the phone to confirm.
“We don’t need to do that now. It’s all online and happens automatically and of course is much more secure. As well as transferring money, we can share contracts with the lawyers, so they don’t have to ring up looking for it.
“Everything is going digital and you’ve got up to keep up. When you’re handling large sums of client’s money, you’ve got to make it safe and secure. Securexchange just makes it all so much easier.”
In one collaborative workspace, Securexchange allows you to quickly and securely negotiate, sign and exchange contracts of sale.
You can join the growing network of agents, conveyancers and solicitors protecting their clients in Securexchange here.
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