Check an apartment listing against the housing office's scam guide

About this exercise

You found an off-campus apartment and the landlord emailed. Check the email against your housing office's scam guide: exactly 4 numbered lines, one per guide warning sign in the guide's order, each starting 'Present' or 'Not present' with a quote from the email as proof when present. Then a last line 'Next step:' from the guide. Plain text, under 110 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

• A general scam explainer. The AI lists every rental scam sign it knows instead of checking the guide's four. Try: Say: "One line per guide warning sign, in the guide's order."
• Saying everything is present. The AI assumes all signs apply because the rest look bad. Try: Add: "Mark Not present when the email doesn't show it."
• Its own next step. The AI says 'report it to the police' instead of the guide's step. Try: Ask: "End with Next step: from the guide."
• Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 110 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Ask for less than the limit and cap each line: "each line under 15 words, under 85 words total."
• Letting markdown in. AI adds bold and headings by default, and in your notes they show up as stray symbols. Try: Add: "Plain text only, no bold, no headings."

What a strong prompt includes

• Uses the guide
• Gives the labels
• Asks for quotes as proof
• Says exactly how many
• Asks for plain text

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