You know the saying “It only takes one or two to spoil the fun for everyone” – this is what springs to mind when talking through scam and scam leads on Privateproperty.co.za.
To put the issue into context, we generate between 300 000 and 400 000 leads each month for our customers and only deal with literally a handful of scam related issues every month. So it is a small problem but most certainly not an insignificant one that we have to deal with.
We also have to keep in mind the need to trade-off “ease-of-use” without compromising on security, and this is a quick reminder of how we continually strive to build a safe yet effective marketing platform for all parties to enjoy.
Report this Listing –
On every listing there is an effective report listing link that enables all advertised properties to be monitored. Should someone find a listing that appears to be too good to be true, one can simply click on the report listing link and we do a thorough investigation to check the authenticity of the advert before de-activating it from our system.
Safety Tips –
We post “spammer content” to our Advice Centre which is a blog page that best allows you to verify whether the lead you have received is a genuine one or not. Visit this this page regularly to stay informed about “bad customers”.
Agent-on-Call Leads –
A recent concern raised was that of browsers sending abusive emails to Agents-on-Call. We didn't want to limit enquiries to “registered users” only and eliminate the possibility of engaging all other users, so instead we built keyword blocking into these leads. This means that when abusive content is written to an agent in these leads, we are able to recognise the message as spam and prevent it from being delivered.
Spammer List –
Our system can identify most potential spam / scam leads to estate agents. We use a number of business rules and programming logic to filter these and then have them moderated with a human interface to establish whether the lead is a genuine one.
In summary, we at Private Property will continue to work hard at making the experience a great one for both the browser and the customer. We appreciate any feedback and further ideas you may have to make the experience an even better one.