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A group of Maryland high school seniors took the internet by storm when they listed their school on Zillow as a “nice, half-working jail” for their class prank.
Meade High School seniors highlighted their school’s spacious kitchen, private basketball court, private study, multi-use turf field and 100-space parking lot for a potential buyer’s luxury cars. However, the school’s ongoing sewage and pest issues pushed them to appraise their school at the bargain-basement price of $42,069.
“The listing was incredibly creative advertising,” Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ spokesperson Bob Mosier told The Baltimore Banner of the prank. “But we are frankly stunned the listing so vastly underestimated the value of a prime piece of real estate like this, especially one with such amazing amenities.”
“I can’t imagine that there isn’t going to be a rush of bidders to snap this one up,” he added.
A screenshot of the prank listing
Mosier and other school leaders wrote the listing off as harmless, considering the usual high school pranks that leave a mess of toilet paper and spray paint.
“Here’s one [senior prank] in which no one was hurt, no property was damaged, and it was very creative,” Mosier said of the now-deleted listing.
A Zillow spokesperson poked fun at the high school-listing prank while reiterating the seriousness of maintaining the integrity of the site’s listings, in an emailed statement sent to Inman.
“We love a fun listing here at Zillow — we even have one for the White House!” the spokesperson said. “[However], Zillow strives to provide a safe platform with accurate information, which is why we go to great lengths to prevent inappropriate listings from being posted and to inform users of how to protect themselves from scams both online and offline.”
Here’s where to find Zillow’s report button.
The majority of Zillow listings come from internet data exchange (IDX) connections with multiple listing services (MLS); however, the site does allow individual users to post listings.
Those individual listings are screened by human moderators and artificial intelligence tools that pinpoint suspicious language, listing information and photos.
Zillow catches the majority of fake listings before they go live on the site, but some crafty posters will add fraudulent information after the listing has been approved, like in the case of Kelly Moss — a Georgia woman who turned herself into the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday for scamming renters on Zillow out of nearly $8,000 in so-called transaction fees.
In that case, the company partially counts on users to flag suspicious listings using the report button. “Our teams monitor activity in several different ways, actively screening out suspicious content, and if a listing is found to be fraudulent, it is removed as quickly as possible,” they said.
According to the spokesperson, several red flags should immediately give buyers and renters pause:
A requirement to pay upfront fees: Scammers will often ask buyers and renters to pay fraudulent, upfront fees before they’re able to tour a listing. They often ask that the fees are paid with cash, a wire transfer or a money order — methods that are difficult for law enforcement to track.
A requirement to share sensitive information: In addition to asking for fees, scammers will also ask consumers to share sensitive information, such as a social security number, their current address, date of birth, or credit card number in order to be eligible to view a listing.
Solely offering virtual tours: Although virtual tours were all the rage in the early days of the pandemic, most sellers and landlords have gone back to offering in-person tours. With that in mind, Zillow said a post solely offering virtual tours can be a red flag, especially if you’re asked to pay application fees and security deposits beforehand.
Same listing, different name: Renters and buyers often use multiple portals during their searches. If you come across the same listing on different sites, double-check who’s listing it — if you see various names that means a scammer has stolen information from a real listing. Report the listings so they are properly reviewed.
A price that’s too good to be true: As rental and for-sale home prices reach historic highs, everyone is looking for a deal. However, if you come across a listing that has an asking price way below your local market’s trend line, there’s a good chance a scammer is behind it.
Insisting you don’t use an agent: Scammers will often insist on one-on-one deals — meaning there are no agents allowed. If you’re a renter who lives in a market that doesn’t require a broker for a rental deal, beware of listings that say you can’t bring a trusted friend or family member to a rental appointment.
Zillow has multiple guides to help renters and buyers identify potential scams on Zillow and other platforms, the spokesperson said.
“Our ‘How to Recognize and Avoid Rental Fraud’ page and ‘Beware of Scams and Other Internet Fraud’ page both explain how to look out for red flags, such as requests for wire transfers or prices that seem too good to be true, and provide other valuable information about how to avoid bad actors in the housing market,” they said.
Realtor.com, Redfin and other top portals have similar guides for buyers and renters to avoid scams, and they also have methods for reporting:
- Redfin: Potentially fraudulent listings must be sent to Redfin’s customer service team. Consumers can call 844-759-7732 or fill out a customer service web form here. If the potentially fraudulent listing is for the for-sale market, it will also need to be reported to the proper MLS.
- Realtor.com: Consumers can report potentially fraudulent listings by clicking the “report this listing” button at the bottom of each listing page.
- Trulia: Just like its sister site, consumers can report suspicious listings by clicking a report button on the top right side of a listing page. Renters can also email rentalsupport@zillow.com to flag sketchy rental listings.
- CoStar: CoStar has a wide array of portals for the residential and commercial for-sale and rental markets. Apartments.com has a verified listing badge; however, you can report potentially fraudulent listings by calling 888-658-7368 x2 or emailing support@apartments.com. Homes.com has a similar reporting system, with consumers being able to flag suspicious listings by emailing support@homes.com or calling 1-800-431-5509.
If a buyer or renter falls victim to a scam, they’ll also need to contact local law enforcement authorities and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC enables consumers to easily report scams using an online questionnaire.
