Had a scare this week — found a listing that looked perfect, messaged the "landlord", and within an hour they were asking for a deposit to "hold" the place before I'd even seen it in person, said they were currently abroad for work. Something felt off so I said no and the messages got noticeably more pushy.
Is this a known pattern or did I just have bad luck? How common is this?
You did exactly the right thing — that is a textbook version of the classic remote-rental scam, and the "conveniently abroad, can't meet in person, needs money before you can view it" combination is the giveaway every time. Real landlords and agencies overwhelmingly want to show the place before any money changes hands; urgency to skip that step is the red flag, not the ask for a deposit itself.
Good instinct trusting the "something felt off" — that's usually right.
Had almost the identical experience house-hunting for our family — down to the "currently abroad for work" line, word for word. I think it might genuinely be a template scammers are using. Glad you caught it before sending anything.