BC realtors fined for social media accounts without proper names, credentials
A couple of BC realtors have been fined $10,000 because their social media accounts didn't use their full registered realtor name.
The regulator also took issue because both realtors said they were "award-winning" but didn't go into details about those so-called awards.
According to two separate Jan. 9 BC Financial Services Authority decisions, realtors Xin Bo (Angela) Guo and Craig Veroni were fined $4,000 and $6,250 respectively, for not using the correct wording on their social media accounts.
In Guo's case, she used "Angela Guo Realtor" and "Angela Guo PREC" on different social media accounts and said on her Instagram account that she was a "Top 1% President Club Member."
It didn't please the regulator.
"Neither account used her personal real estate corporation’s licensee name 'Angela Guo Personal Real Estate Corporation' in the bio portion," the BC Financial Services Authority said. "Ms. Guo’s Instagram page did not indicate the basis, source, date, or qualifying information for her receipt of the Top 1% President Club Membership award."
The regulator said the award statement was misleading.
"These representations included no qualifying information that would specify on what basis these awards were granted. Without that qualifying information the public could easily have concluded that these awards concerned times, volumes of transactions, or other qualifying criteria that they did not," the decision reads.
Guo argued the accounts were set up by someone at her brokerage years earlier, she rarely used them and didn't even know the passwords to take them down.
It didn't sway the regulator.
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"I find that she did not take the necessary and reasonable steps to ensure the material was compliant with the rules at the time," the BC Financial Services Authority ruled.
Ultimately, she lost the appeal and was ordered to pay a $4,000 fine – $1,000 per social media account.
Separately, Veroni had much the same issue.
"Mr. Veroni’s Instagram page, which had the name 'Craig Veroni REALTOR,' stated 'Award winning REALTOR' in the bio portion without any information regarding what awards he received or how he qualified for those awards, and did not state his brokerage’s name," the decision reads.
It took issue with Veroni's awards.
"In my view, this is necessary to ensure the nature of those awards is clearly communicated and the public is not misled into believing the awards indicate more than they actually do," the regulator ruled.
As social media sites are considered advertising, they have to fall within the regulator's rules.
Like Guo, Veroni argued he changed his social media sites to fit the rules and did his due diligence.
However, the regulator wasn't convinced and upheld the $6,250 fine.
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