Adam's Skype, Telegram, & Whatsapp Policy
- Adam Garrett
- Sep 1, 2023
- 7 min read
Updated: Aug 19
Image above courtesy Whatsapp
1. Why did Adam need to create a Skype, Telegram, & Whatsapp policy?
Skype, Telegram, & Whatsapp are the most common 3 insecure platforms that catfish buyers & catfish sellers request early on in conversations to move away from more secure platforms like texting, emails, etc.
That said, <3% of the time with legitimate clients, I actually use Whatsapp. I've had a Skype account that I've used with legitimate people since likely sometime before 2009.
However, the way that a legitimate buyer or seller (who eventually communicates with me on one of these platforms) approaches an initial inquiry is very different than a catfish. To keep my time serving legitimate buyers & sellers, while some agents will simply ignore the person who shows signs of being a catfish, and the more gullible may go along with it, I tend to get straight to the point with those who seek to shift the conversation to an insecure platform early on in conversation who share certain patterns of catfish buyers & sellers.
2. My Whatsapp/Telegram/Skype Basic Policy
If someone reaches out to me on another platform (or directly via one of these platforms) seeking to immediately (or very soon after) bring the conversation to an insecure platform like Whatsapp, Telegram, or Skype, & often following other patterns of illegitimate buyers or sellers, I like to share my policies via links to articles like this one. That way I waste less time and the high-probability scammer wastes less time on me.
If someone reaches out to me who is a legitimate buyer or seller, >99% of the time, they won't seek to immediately bring the conversation to an insecure platform. In all of my experiences with legitimate buyers and sellers on these other platforms, they followed patterns of typical legitimate buyers and sellers, including but not limited to not seeking to avoid legitimate secure platforms initially. Legitimate buyers & sellers also don't tend to be nearly as camera shy & don't tend to avoid wanting to do things in person if they were in the area. Conversely, catfish hate being on camera because it exposes them too much, so they avoid it like the plague typically. When a legitimate buyer or seller has followed patterns typical of legitimate buyers or sellers that don't indicate that they are a catfish, like being on camera with me live, getting a pre-approval on a loan with a lender I refer them, or meeting me in person, I have no problem shifting to Skype, Telegram, or Whatsapp.
If someone I don't know and have had no prior communication with initiates contact with me directly on Whatsapp, Telegram, Skype, or a similar platform, they are a low probability of being someone who is a legitimate buyer or seller even if they claim to be. In these cases, I like to send a message to them asking how I can help them, & encourage video calls.
Sometimes people will schedule a video discussion with me with no intention of actually doing it, seeking to communicate with me more prior to the discussion after scheduling it. While someone is able to give as much information to me as they want (i.e. search criteria) prior to a video discussion, when someone on WhatsApp or a similar platform uses a phone number that is a VOIP, &/or when the name that they've mentioned doesn't match the name on a site like NumLookup (or when no name is found), I intentionally seek to limit written communication until a video discussion has occurred. I generally won't send more than 5 messages regarding search criteria with a buyer on a place like Whatsapp prior to video discussion.
3. Exceptions to my policy where I have few misgivings regarding a shift to an insecure platform early on in the conversation
1. If I know someone personally
2. If referred by someone I know personally who knows them from prior in-person interaction
3. Those willing to engage in live video discussion with me where I can clearly see their face, hear them engaging actively with me, etc.
4. Availability to meet in person
5. Those who can provide a pre-approval or proof of funds from a reputable bank or other institution that I can contact to verify the legitimacy of their pre-approval/POF & where the lender or banker's contact information is on the firm's website or somewhere else similar publicly that is reputable and where their license # etc. can be traced & verified if applicable.
6. Others
The vast majority of those who are catfish also aren't willing to do a video call. There are some alternatives in the event that you are a legitimate buyer where at least one of the following shouldn't be difficult for most legitimate buyers who are unable to do video. Please provide any one of the following:
A. An email from a business, organization, university, or other entity website
(i.e. I can email you from agarrett@garrettrealtypartners.com or 1 of 3 university accounts if you wish for me to do the same) as long as that website links to an actual website that appears legitimate.
B. A contact from a well-established social media account with relatively public settings that has plenty of tagged pictures with other people on the same social media account who themselves have plenty of tagged pictures with others.
I.e. https://m.facebook.com/adambgarrett/
C. Share a typical website with your contact info.
I.e. both of the following showing my phone number and email
https://www.adambgarrett.com/contact
https://www.garrettrealtypartners.com/team/adam-garrett
D. Share a better business bureau listing that matches with your contact info.
4. When I won't make exceptions
1. "Buyers" or "Sellers" who provide "documentation" which can easily be doctored or invalid, especially if I see signs of doctoring, blurry images, & invalid documentation like I've seen before.
2. Videos of the "buyer" talking about his desired home purchase or "sellers" talking about their home sale with no mention of my name (since they could be sending the same video to 100's or thousands of agents)
3. "Business Emails" where the @__ portion doesn't actually lead to a live website or if the website it leads to has a low trust rating on https://www.scamadviser.com/ or similar websites
5. It's important that I guard my time so that I have more time to devote to legitimate requests.
I get hit by many scam/catfish requests for discussion (including but not limited to from catfish buyers & catfish sellers), with some weeks having more scam/catfish requests than legitimate requests. Due to the volume of scam/catfish inquiries I receive, I've developed template-based responses to them, articles related to them, & policies to guard against wasting my time on them. That said, these inquiries still take up some of my time, and in the process, take my time away from more service to legitimate buyers & sellers. In order to protect my service of legitimate buyers and sellers, it's critical that I establish strict policies.
6. Catfish/scammers are wasting their time on me. Ignorance is a primary factor of their target demographic, but it sometimes takes them a while to figure out that I'm not.
Catfish & scammers prey on the ignorant. I know too much for catfish & scammers to be doing anything more than wasting their time in discussion with me.
Examples of what I know:
7. What if someone's English is such that they don't feel comfortable discussing things over audio?
I frequently receive this objection by catfish buyers. For legitimate buyers who feel this way, I would suggest that you seek out an agent who is able to serve you best by speaking your primary language. Here's an article I've written on the subject.
8. What if I'm in a different time zone?
It's not uncommon for me to serve clients on the other side of the world. I'm not limited to 9-5. Here are my hours. That said, if my hours and yours wouldn't be conducive for an initial conversation, they likely won't be conducive for virtual showings or other work together.
9. What if I Want to Work with Adam But Won't Abide by His Search Activation Policy or Whatsapp Policy?
If that's the case, while the search won't be as good typically as an MLS search, you can still get my recommendations on creating a search on Zillow. Just keep in mind that prior to him doing showings with you, his policies will still need to be abided by. On one occasion, he showed a buyer he knew homes in person only to find that the "boyfriend" of his friend who was planning on making the purchase and was seeing the homes via video was actually a catfish. In doing so, Adam wasted his friend's time and took time away from his legitimate clients.
10. What can legitimate buyers & sellers do if they don't like my policy?
If you're a legitimate buyer or seller and you don't like my policy for relatively insecure platforms such as but not limited to Whatsapp, Telegram, or Skype, I suggest working with another agent who is more loose with their time despite the fact that their lax policy in that regard likely is indicative of other similar policies that I wouldn't consider positive.
Here are tips on finding an agent:
What to Look for in a Buyer's Agent for Your Home or Other Real Estate
What to Look for in a Listing Agent for Your Home or Other Real Estate
If you'd still like a bit of information from me via my buyer & seller guides, which each provide links to dozens of articles I've written, here are my buyers & sellers guides:
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