Zillow wrongfully said man's house had been sold, so he thought his identity had been stolen

Like many homeowners, Steve Nelson of Cypress likes to know what his home is worth, so he often checks sites like Zillow. But recently, some unsettling data popped up on the site. 

“It’s hard to describe. But it’s just like your heart sinks when you read it,” he said.

The site showed Nelson’s home had been sold a few months earlier. But it hadn’t. 

“I was concerned somebody had gone in, either stolen our identity or had done something that would transfer ownership to our house over to them,” he said.

Panicked, Nelson said he repeatedly reached out to Zillow to find out what was going on. But he said he couldn’t get a response. 

“It would be similar to looking at your investments on an investment website, your 401k balance, for example, and you see your investments have been sold. Or there’s nothing in your investments. It’s a very similar feeling,” he said.

Nelson then called the county recorder’s office. It said there hadn’t been any activity on his property. That made him feel a little better, but he said Zillow was still ignoring him. 

“I was still very worried because I did not know the source of Zillow’s information,” he said.

The I-Team reached out to Zillow and it fixed the problem immediately. A representative said Nelson's experience was the result of a data entry error. Zillow insists these mistakes don’t happen often, and it said it "strives for accuracy" on its site. 

“It’s probably good to check your property on Zillow and make sure there's nothing that’s been misrepresented,” said Nelson.

Privacy advocate Hayley Kaplan agreed with him. 

“With abundant fraud, if you see something that seems off, it’s very smart to look into it further,” she said.

Kaplan said Nelson’s concerns are valid. Misinformation like this could have meant his identity had been stolen. 

“There’s so much fraud out there in so many different ways. The cybercriminals are getting more and more crafty about the way they do things,” she said.

Kaplan said when crooks get a hold of your personal information, they can hijack your identity, take out loans in your name, and maybe even a second mortgage on your house. She suggested homeowners check these real estate sites often. And if anything is off, get it cleared up right away. 

Kaplan also recommends consumers sign up for alerts on their credit and bank accounts. So any time there’s activity, they’ll be notified.