How to identify Zillow Rental Manager spam

Question

I am using Zillow Rental Manager for the first time to communicate with potential tenants. The inbox messaging feature seems pretty handy, but how do you identify spam? I have gotten several legitimate messages from actual people, but I just received one that raises some red flags. The listing is very thorough and clearly for a house, but the initial inquiry is a generic request for information about an apartment. I reply, basically repeating the description in the listing. The writer responds, offering a few unsolicited introductory personal details, specifically mentioning that he's a US Citizen, but currently working out of the country and moving back home because his contract is ending and he plans to stay here for more than 1 year. Then he asks some very specific questions that are already answered in the listing. This is obviously a non-native English speaker so I don't want to just discount him because he's not understanding the listing due to a language barrier, but I also don't want to waste a bunch of time communicating with a bot or giving information to a scammer so he can spoof my listing. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Lisa Thiessen · Answer

Thank you for affirming my instincts Tchaka and Charlie!

Tchaka Owen · Answer

@Lisa Thiessen - there's a reason you're seeing red flags.....now it's time to follow your gut. Let's look at this from a totally different angle: I'm an American who has traveled the world and live in the US, until coming across your post, I'd NEVER even heard of Weatherford, OK. Tell me, what does Weatherford have that would entice someone overseas to come back to? This isn't to cut on your town, it might be a lovely place. But it doesn't register here - and I have friends in OK, including a godson. If I was from the area, was overseas and returning, my correspondence would indicate so. If not but I had some reason to want to be there, my emails would say so. But unsolicited information from an American that you deem isn't even a native-English speaker and wants to live in Weatherford, OK.....is clearly a fake.

Charlie MacPherson · Answer

@Lisa Thiessen  What you've described is a VERY common template used by scammers.  It goes like this:

I am from [US location], but am currently in [foreign country].  I am very interested in your [home, product] and will pay [full asking price] and send you a [bank check, money order].

You accept their generous offer and receive the [bank check, money order], but the scammer has inadvertently over paid you by quite a bit - maybe adding an extra zero to the amount.

He asks that when the [bank check, money order] clears, you send the substantial overage back to him via [Western Union, Moneygram], and being the honest person you are, you agree.

...4-6 weeks pass...

The bank where you deposited the [bank check, money order] calls to tell you that the [bank check, money order] didn't clear because although it was written from a valid account that has sufficient funds, it was a forgery.  It generally takes weeks for the account owner to realize that someone has forged a check on their account - especially if it's a big company with a high volume of payments.

You are now required to refund that amount to the bank, so the scammer now has the large excess payment that you sent to him and you have a debt for the original amount of the deposit.

Don't fall for it.  And if you did, check with your insurance carrier to see if you might be covered.