COLORADO SPRINGS — It's hard enough for many people to find a place to live right now, but fraudsters behind rental scams and fake listings are only making things more difficult.
Zillow is one of the most popular real estate websites used by consumers looking for places to live. Representatives for the online platform tell News5 the company is working to identify and fight back against fraudulent listings, but urges consumers to report listings they have concerns about.
Recently we’ve reported on theimpact of both fake and imposter home listings where photos are stolen and reposted in public marketplaces, all in an effort to get people to pay deposits for homes these imposters don’t actually have anything to do with.
News5 viewer Josephine Gifford says she's come up empty in her search for a new home for the last four months. She's hoping to move from Pueblo to an area closer to her new job in Denver.
She says she got some discouraging information when she went to check out one of the recent properties she was sent from Zillow.
"There were construction workers there so we got out and looked and I asked one of the gentlemen, is the house for rent? He said no. The house is not for rent. He said he’s working for the owners who live in the house," said Gifford. "It seemed like they had other visitors too besides myself.”
When asked about these concerns Zillow sent News5 this statement:
“Zillow strives to provide a safe online platform with accurate information, which is why we go to great lengths to prevent fraud and other inappropriate content from appearing on our apps and sites. We also work to inform consumers about how to avoid bad actors in the housing market: Our 'How to Recognize and Avoid Rental Fraud' [zillow.com] page and ‘Beware of Scams and Other Internet Fraud’ [zillow.com] page explain how to look out for red flags online, such as requests for wire transfers, prices that seem too good to be true, or information being copied from legitimate listings and fraudulently used elsewhere.”
In one of Zillow's webpages warning about scams it urges consumers to take action against any suspicious listings they may come across on the platform.
On the site it reads:
"If you find a fraudulent listing on Zillow, please report it by clicking “Report Listing” and selecting “Listing seems to be fraudulent or illegal.” on the listing page in question."
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