JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Zillow listing had a five-bedroom, five-bathroom home in Jacksonville Golf and Country Club listed for $24,500.
The user who listed the home said it was being sold at a $898,500 discount and needed a $4,500 deposit before showing the inside of it.
"Seems too good to be true, it usually is. So certainly if you see an $800,000 house be advertised for $23,000 something should go off in your brain like wait a minute this doesn't smell right," said Cici Carter, a broker associate at Keller Williams First Coast Realty.
First Coast News called the number on the listing and was hung up on when we identified ourselves.
Three hours after calling the number, the listing was taken down.
Zillow says it flagged the ad and took it down. It also blocked the user from listing on the platform.
"They [lister] ask you to wire the money into their parent's account." Carter said.
She laughed when she saw the listing littered with red flags but said people can still fall victim to obvious scams.
Carter said it's important to hire a realtor, so they can verify if the listing is real.
"This particular case we were able to see that this home sold in 2020 for $890,000, is it really likely that two years later somebody would be selling it for $23,000? Probably not, these are thing that we can look at and see." Carter said.
In a statement to First Coast News Zillow said it constantly screens for possible scams on its site and offered resources for people to educate themselves and report scams.
"Zillow’s ‘Beware of scams and other internet fraud’ page provides valuable information for internet users on how to avoid scams, including looking out for red flags like requests for wire transfers and long-distance inquiries.”