I’ve emailed three people from 591 regarding different apartments for rent. The emails were written in Chinese. Each time I get a response back in English from someone claiming to be an American. They are clearly NOT American. The responses don’t address my questions either. I feel like I’m wasting my time. What is really going on here?
Nah, it’s fine. Eventually you’ll learn how to spot scams from a mile away
Well, from time to time, the board does get accounts about questionable practices involving apartment rentals.
From last year:
Icon’s response to the above post:
From 2012:
From 2006:
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Im just now trying to use 591 for the first time as well, and yes there seems to be quite a bit of scamming going on. Some small hints, maybe you guys have more:
One apartment was simply too good for a way too low price. A quick google image search (in Chrome browser, right click on a photo, chose “Search google for image)” on each of the photos showed the exact same photos were being used for a luxury apartment in Budapest. Scam.
Another one had the description in simplified Chinese, and a funny phone number outside of Taiwan. Googling the email address found tons of complaints about scams, and even a website registered with this email address (and some most probably completely unrelated German watch shop’s name and address details) that had a name related to 951…
…and of course ANY situation where you need to pay something up front, before signing the contract: see the place, “hire” a service, …
Or the apartment in Budapest is a scam, or they’re both scams. 
We have had nothing but great experiences with 591. We always stick to the listings with real estate agents. Sure, you have to pay an agent fee, but at least you know you will not be scammed.
Possible; recently missed out on a listing on a huge, modern, new 2-bed in Zhongxiao Xinsheng going for $20k a month with several bills included. In retrospect, it was likely a scam.
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.