Someone Tried to Scam Me on Zillow

[Dareen Allie]

Searching the MLS in Arizona I came across a nice looking, well kept single family home that was worth 160k. The listing only had one photo, the front of the home. Contacted a realtor to schedule a viewing. The realtor said he could not get in touch with the property owner so I called the owner myself and he answered. Almost immediately when he got on the phone he stated he can take the home off market for me to view if I pay $1k. He also stated he was out of town on business and had other homes for sell as well. I could hardly get any info about the property because he was so focused on this $1k. I told him I didn't think it was reasonable to pay $1k just to view the property. What really got me was when he wanted me to send the money through Zelle or CashApp! I told him I can send it through a title company but he disregarded that idea. He kept egging on the fact that he had tons of people calling him because it was such a great deal, which was understandable. The fact that I had to pay just to see the property, send the money through Zelle and him being so demanding is what made me skeptical. I asked him to send more photos just to get him off of the phone. He texted them and asked for the $1k again! I never replied. I got home to look up the property. The home photo was from google maps. The owners of the home had Hispanic names, which did not match his voice. He had a Jamaican or African type of accent and said his name was Paul Nelson! The next day he called like three times and I had to block him. If the deal was real I'm sure he would have been too occupied with other buyers to call me that many times. Being a new investor, I just never knew there could be scams on services like Zillow. Glad I'm somewhat knowledgeable about how things work in the real estate world to avoid a scam like that. Watch out guys!

[Ronald Allen Barney]

MLS wouldn't give you garbage like that. People complain about a listing agent's commission, but part of it is insurance against such scams in a process with governance, safety, and regulation, a.k.a. the MLS.

Zillow, well...