Trust & safety
How verification, masked numbers, moderation, and reporting work — and how to protect yourself when real money is on the line.
How does listing verification actually work?
Every listing passes a baseline review before publishing: genuine photos, plausible price and area, sensible location pin, no duplicates. The Verified badge is a level above that — the seller's identity is OTP-confirmed and they've provided ownership details (like a survey number and deed reference) that our team has cross-checked.
Verification meaningfully filters out casual fraud, but it is not a title search. PlotsLand does not certify that a plot's title is clear, that approvals are valid, or that the land is free of encumbrances — no marketplace can do that from documents a seller uploads.
So read the badge correctly: Verified means “this is a real person listing a real plot that passed our checks.” The legal due diligence before you pay is still yours to do, and the articles below tell you exactly what that involves.
How do masked phone numbers protect me?
Your phone number is never shown publicly — not on listings, not on requirements, not in search. It's revealed only through the deliberate reveal flow, and the other side has to be a signed-in user, which kills anonymous scraping and the resale of contact lists.
Sellers are notified when someone reveals their number, so every call they get traces back to a real account. For buyers, this means posting a requirement doesn't turn your phone into a spam magnet the way it does on classified sites.
If someone does misuse your number after a reveal, report the account — misuse of contact details is a terms violation and repeat offenders are removed.
How do I report a suspicious listing or user?
Every listing has a Report action. Pick the reason — suspected fraud, wrong or misleading information, duplicate listing, plot not actually available, or spam — and add a line about what you saw. Reports are confidential; the listing's owner is not told who reported them.
Reports go straight to the moderation queue. Depending on severity, the team may contact the seller for documents, correct the listing, or suspend it (SUSPENDED status) so it disappears from search while under investigation. Accounts that accumulate valid reports are suspended entirely.
Report even when you're not certain — a pattern of small reports is often how a fraud ring is caught. False reporting to hurt a competitor, on the other hand, is itself a violation.
What are the common land scams I should watch for?
The classics: selling land the seller doesn't own (or owns jointly without the co-owners' consent); selling the same plot to multiple buyers; GPA (power-of-attorney) “sales” presented as ownership transfers; plots in unauthorised layouts sold as “approval coming soon”; and disputed or acquisition-notified land sold at a tempting discount.
The pressure patterns are as telling as the paperwork: a price well below the locality's market, urgency (“token today or it's gone”), reluctance to meet at the actual plot, excuses for missing originals, and requests to pay a token amount before you've seen a single document.
Two absolutes: never pay anything — token, advance, “processing fee” — before your own lawyer has seen the documents, and know that PlotsLand never asks for a payment to connect you with a seller. Anyone claiming a “PlotsLand connection fee” is a scammer; report them immediately.
How do I verify land documents before buying?
Ask the seller for: the title deed (sale deed / mother deed chain, ideally 30 years), the latest encumbrance certificate (EC) from the sub-registrar showing no loans or claims, the khata/patta in the seller's name, up-to-date tax paid receipts, the survey sketch, and the layout approval (RERA registration and DTCP/planning-authority sanction for plotted layouts; conversion order if it was agricultural land).
Verify independently, not just by reading copies: pull the EC yourself at the sub-registrar office or the state's online portal, match the survey number against village/city survey maps, check the RERA number on the state RERA site, and confirm the layout plan with the planning authority.
Then have a property lawyer give a written title opinion before any money moves. It costs a few thousand rupees against a purchase of lakhs — it is the single best money you'll spend in the transaction. Register the sale deed at the sub-registrar's office; possession plus notarised agreement is not ownership.
What happens when a listing gets suspended?
A listing moves to SUSPENDED when reports or a moderation check raise a problem serious enough to pull it from public view — suspected fraud, ownership doubt, badly misleading details, or repeated standards violations. It vanishes from search and its detail page immediately.
The seller is notified with the reason and can respond with corrections or documents. If the issue is resolved — say, an honest error in the plot area — the listing is edited and republished. If it isn't, the listing stays down, and serious or repeated cases suspend the account itself.
If your listing was suspended and you believe wrongly, reply to the notification or write to support@plotsland.in with your evidence — appeals are reviewed by a human, usually within a couple of business days.