These guys are blatent spammers who have many teams of people hitting the following cities: Fort Worth, Keller, Mid Cities, Benbrook and the Alliance Corrider.
I called one of their numbers and the person said they were licensed to post the signs. I asked who gave them the license and he said he could not discuss this further and transferred me to voicemail. When I called back, I asked to speak to their manager and they put me on hold and never picked up. I researched and discovered they are listed as MLM REALTY GROUP of Fort Worth. One person I finally spoke with told me they just answer the phone but they stated they have always placed illegal signs and that they will continue to do so. The person, (Jeff) said that their boss (Alan - no last name given) told them that there is no enforcable law to prevent them from placing the signs and they just follow his instruction. In an indignant manner, he matter-of-factly commented they have over 30 real estate agents spamming for them. They also tried to justify the spamming stating "they work directly with NuHomes, (a LENNAR company) homebuilder," who also is posting bandits in West Fort Worth for them.
We have picked up over 150 of their signs in a single day, only to have them replaced within the following business day.
The main target area they promote is the Beach Steet/Western Center area in Fort Worth.
Below are samples of the signs we picked up just last weekend.
Any help with these blatent spammers or helping contact proper code enforcement authorities is appreciated!
#1. "RE: Northwest Fort Worth BIGGEST SPAMMER" In response to Reply # 0
Keep up the good work. It hurrts them more than you know to pick up their signs day after day. Those guys around here recognize a "no Spam zone" after they do it.
.
Oh, there's a hint of cool in the air, and Winter is coming! I've got to gather more firewood... And Sign stakes make great fire starters!
#2. "RE: Northwest Fort Worth BIGGEST SPAMMER" In response to Reply # 0
You may have some decent options to go after these people. The fact that they answer the phone and talk to you is a little unusual.
If you can get code enforcement in any of the cities to work with you, that would be the biggest weapon to stamp them out. See if code enforcement is willing and find out what they need to take real action. Push them gently (or firmly) every step of the way.
Another avenue is through real estate licensing, if any of the players are brokers or agents.
Their pitch is a little odd and may well be deceptive or bait-and-switch. New homes for people with bad credit doesn't make sense. This may be the bait when the real product is some sort of house-flipping scam.
#3. "RE: Northwest Fort Worth BIGGEST SPAMMER" In response to Reply # 0
>Any help with these blatent spammers or helping contact >proper code enforcement authorities is appreciated!
I have had some success with:
1. contacting my city councilperson. She finally got Code Compliance to contact the spammer (a bar in the TCU area). It took months to stop the spam, but the area has now been clean for a couple of years. In the process, I learned that the city's legal department refuses to prosecute under the end benefactor rule. They will only prosecute someone who is caught in the act of placing a sign. Attempts to get my city councilperson to change that attitude were met with silence.
2. contacting Code Compliance. They now have a link on their web page for reporting illegal signs. The link is a mailto tag for devcustomerservice@fortworthgov.org
Keep up the good work.
Bulldog
PS: I try to keep the southwest Fort Worth (TCU-Ridgmar-Hulen) area clean. If you see anything that I need to watch for, please let me know.
