A legitimate landlord will let you tour the unit — or at minimum verify it exists — before any money changes hands. Requests to wire funds through Western Union or MoneyGram, pay a "holding deposit" to lock the unit before signing, or send rent through a cash app (Zelle, Venmo, Cash App) before you have a signed lease are the three most common scam pivots. If the landlord is pushing any of those, treat it as a red flag regardless of how real the listing looks on Zillow. Verify the landlord through a channel outside the listing itself (county records, the property-management company's main site), and never wire money to someone you have not met.
What to do
- Paste the listing URL (or address) into Rent Check — the score combines every signal it finds into a single verdict.
- Verify the landlord through a channel outside the listing — call the property-management company, check county records, or look up the LLC.
- Tour the unit before any money moves. A landlord who pushes payment before you have seen the apartment is the most common scam pivot.
- Compare the rent against the local median. If the asking price is well below market, the saving is usually the bait.
- Read the lease before you sign. Application fees, holding deposits, and early-termination clauses all live in the fine print.
- Document the move-in condition with timestamped photos. That record is what gets your security deposit back.
See the full scam-scoring rubric — every signal, every weight, and the threshold that flips a listing from Clear to Caution to Suspicious — on /check/methodology.