Eight Realtors filed a lawsuit against two of the biggest names in residential real estate, claiming fraudulent lead generation.
The agents from across the country are seeking class action status for their claims Move — the parent company of Realtor.com — allegedly sells fraudulent and unvetted leads, Inman reported. The complaint also names co-defendants News Corp (Move’s parent company), the National Association of Realtors and Opacity.
The plaintiffs allege Move scrapes data from various controlled, owned, operated and affiliate websites to find users who may be looking at real estate terms or potential large purchases. Those users are then presented as vetted, high-intent leads on Realtor.com, according to the suit.
But the plaintiffs claim they’re anything but, and sometimes can’t even be verified as a real person. Approximately 40 to 50 percent of Realtor.com leads either don’t have real estate purchase intent or unverifiable, according to the complaint.
Additionally, the plaintiffs allege Realtor.com sells the same group of lead to multiple agents, violating an exclusivity promise.
The plaintiffs claim they took their problems to Realtor.com, but say the sales team responded by denying refund requests and suggesting agents buy high-tier subscriptions for better leads. They further claim executives of the company were aware of the lead generation complaints, but “willfully and consciously” ignored the problem.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages for expenses incurred on Realtor.com leads, as well as other punitive damages.
As for NAR’s involvement in the case, the plaintiffs accuse the trade group of “aiding and abetting” the alleged scheme due to its association with Realtor.com products.
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“NAR actively and passively induced each of the Plaintiffs (and each member of the prospective class) to do business with the Defendants,” the lawsuit stated.
A spokesperson for NAR said the group “will address these false allegations in court.” Realtor.com did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the lawsuit.