Well, I don't know what to think!

If anyone views your property, they have to make an appointment. Nobody turns up unannounced. If they said that they had an appointment to view, they are the victims of a scam. If they just arrived, then they are the scammers. The fact that it was not on Zooplankton when you looked was probably that the scammer realised that you were on to them.

Yes I echo the others, speak to the police ASAP as this is a classic case of “ casing the joint “.

Check with your bank and authorities that your identities are not being stolen.

This is really creepy, isn't it. Scam artists know how to appear genuine and charming. I honestly think the Police need to be informed.

No matter how lovely and genuine the couple seemed I would have detected a scam so would have taken a photo of them and recorded their car registration and, if possible, got their fingerprints on something and said 'joking', 'if you are going to burgle me later, I've got tabs on you!'

This is of real concern, there are well documented cases of people obtaining information from the land registry and using it to sell houses that do not belong to them. There was a programme on the TV a while ago highlighting the rise in people offering rental properties, when the person (often students) turned up they found that the occupants of the house knew nothing of what was going on and their large deposit was long gone.
I would talk to the police and see if anyone else has had this happen to them.

Contact the police , maybe neighbourhood liaison officer or something. It won't hurt to alert them and will maybe save someone vulnerable from letting these people in .

My reaction is they were trying to case the joint.
Can you remember what sort of car they had?
I would certainly report it with as much information you can get.

I am with everyone else, on getting a report to the police. This is scary and happening much to often.
I rented for a family reunion a large place with a big house and cabins etc once a few years ago, and was told later how lucky I was that it actually existed! Apparently, there are many vacation renters who are scams and just put up lovely pictures and so forth; then you rent and send in a big deposit and they is not even an actual rental at that spot.
So these are very much in the same group.

Apparently that is a common type of scam especially in places where people (often students) are coming from far afield and are trying to organise accommodation before they arrive.

Update: I've spoken to the police and from all I told them they're firmly of the opinion that the couple who called here were the victims of a scam rather than the actual scammers. Maybe scammers sending out fake rental listings, hoping to con someone into paying them a deposit? Who knows? The police have given me the number of Action Fraud because they feel that this is likely to be a national fraud. So I shall ring them tomorrow.

Gosh this would unnerve me, definitely a police job, it doesn’t sound right at all do you have a good description of the couple and their car

Actually something else has just occurred to me - it would be entirely possible that the photo was lifted straight off Google Street Maps. Our street number is very visible on the map, so they would have no difficulty producing a fake listing, complete with the correct address.

All these sorts of scenarios have gone through my head too.
Synonymous we didn't get any estimates because my DH is doing the work.
We have lived here a very long time and have never ever had our house on the market, or even had estate agents round for a valuation. The photo they had was not immediately recent, but neither was it a very old photo, so someone has deliberately taken the photo (no doubt along with photos of other houses) with a view to setting up some sort of scam.
Yes Alima I have googled our address and nothing has come up! So their claim that they 'found out on Zoopla' is either a lie, or they've been sent links to a fake website.
I am currently in a queue on the phone to report this to the police. Fifteen minutes so far - I may lose the will to live soon...

I'd be inclined to up your security, Bathsheba, as well as notifying the police.
It sounds as if they were casing the joint, or hoping to get in. If your house was empty, but they were challenged by a neighbour, they could claim they got a key from an estate agent - and show the 'evidence' on their phone (having put it there themselves).

That might all be only my lurid imagination, but don't take chances.

It does sound like a scam to gain a rental deposit. But it would be sussed as soon as potential renters visited. All a bit strange, but as others have said, I’d alert the police. They may have similar reports.

Bathsheba If the photo was taken before the work was done then it could have been taken by anyone coming round to give an estimate. It sounds as if your visitors were casing the joint anyway and the best criminals are those you would not suspect. Make sure your security is very good and do speak to the police.

Have you tried googling your address to see if anything comes up? It does sound creepy.

I would phone the police just to be on the safe side. It's probably nothing but a wise precaution but it is odd and and worth checking out.

No we haven’t advertised our house for sale J52. So someone had photographed our house, several months ago, and (I can only imagine) is using it to somehow scam would be renters or buyers.

Unfortunately, if you decide to sell without an agent ( and I agree they sometimes get money for doing very little) then you are vulnerable to deceitful people.
By your post, I’m assuming you have advertised to sell you property in a local paper

You should let local police know. I do not wish to alarm you but by knocking at the door they could ascertain if any one was home. Very suspicious.

kitty haven't seen a page like that for our area, but I will check - thanks for the heads up.
Hope your property sale/rental goes without a hitch Panache.

Sounds very fishy to say the least Bathsheba.
Of course our own instincts might be to simply leave it.....anything for a quiet life......however in this day and age where so many fraudsters and those up to no good roam free, I think you be well advised to follow kittylester`s advice.Point is it is Better to be sure than sorry.

With ourselves having a property ready to go on the Market ....again.......this post of yours raised our suspicions and we found it extremely disquieting.

Hope the mystery gets solved and there is no real problem.

I think I'd check with the police too. Our village has a Spotted page on fb which lists all sorts of things going on - does yours?