Well, I don't know what to think!

I know it will be a bit of a pain but do contact the police. It is probable that 'someone' has manipulated the Zoopla site and made a fake one.

Quite how a 'prospective buyer' would hope to get past you, I have no idea but there is something fishy...

Happysg no, as I have said, I have never put any photos of our house on social media, and yes I have tried a general internet search for our address and nothing comes up other than the usual "house prices/houses for sale in (street name)". And no, our house does not appear on any of these Google results or any other searches I've done. And yes, I agree with you (I mentioned it upthread) that it could be Google street maps. It is, as you say, very easy to get photos of anyone's property these days - even without a camera! Unless, of course, you're lucky enough to live enough to live in a private road that doesn't appear on Google maps.
And yes, I did report it to the police on Sunday (the day it happened).
Nannarose that sounds very good - I'll have to see if there's something similar here. We do have a Facebook page for our area for people to report things, and the local police also have a presence on FB.

We have a very good system where I live (I'm sure others do as well) - we are on an email list with the local police, run by the PCSOs. We are informed of crimes in the area, reminded about safety precautions etc. They also inform us of odd occurrences such as this, saying 'we're not sure what this is about, but be aware'.
When that happens, you often hear of others, and whatever the 'scam' is becomes apparent.
Hope all remains quiet for you!

It's scary, but these days there are countless ways of getting information & photos of people's properties, and the people themselves. You may have put a photo on social media, perhaps of yourselves or a family member with your home in the background. Have you tried a general internet search for your address and your surname to see what comes up.? But the most likely source is Google Street View or Google Maps, or a drone could have been used to photograph homes in a target area. As others have said report it to the police just so that they know of that activity in your area.

It could have been an attempt at distraction burglary, or straightforward burglary if you weren't in, but turned out to be unsuccessful.

Or just an excuse to stand around having a good look at your property.

Glad you're getting it checked out and upping your security.

Thanks for all your responses and advice.
Liz08 there were no interior photos of our house - all they had was an external photo which was at least 6 months old, and they claimed they'd seen interior photos, but they clearly weren't of our house from the description they gave us.
jenpax that is exactly what I think was happening here.
grandtante no, we've never uploaded photos of our house to social media, either interior or exterior shots, so the photos they claim to have seen must be from another similar house, or they were lying.
trisher yes, I've checked airbnb and it's not on there. I'm positive they had no opportunity to take photos of our home while we were talking to them - thankfully we were on our side path with the front door shut so they couldn't see inside at all.
Some of you have suggested it looked like a 'distraction burglary' and I agree, it was one of the first things I thought, but there was no opportunity for anyone to gain access to our house, and I checked on the obvious 'easy to grab' things immediately - nothing was missing.
I have spoken to Action Fraud, who have taken a full report and are escalating this to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau who will investigate.

A few years ago I found out that my details were being used to rent out very expensive properties in and around London. Doing some digging there were several apartments advertised on Gumtree using my details and people were paying rental deposits (not to me I hasten to add) and obviously when they turned up the owners were oblivious. Be very wary.

All very good advice for you Bathsheba (I'm certainly going to start taking photos of any incident that's out of the ordinary).
So glad you informed the police - hope they're pursuing it.

Very mysterious about the interior photos of your house which were over 6 months old with no one giving quotes for the work your DH did ??? What other strangers visited before that time ? And weren't they patient .......

To everyone, I recommend putting your postcode into the website NextDoor (used to be called Streetlife) as a very useful 'virtual' notice board (and it's free).
It has many varied local messages ranging from lost cats to community events and in my area people are very quick to spread the word about thefts, car break ins etc. Quicker than the local police could inform us all.
We've also had a few posts of home security camera footage showing prowlers in peoples gardens trying back door handles in the middle of the night - thankfully they were all unsuccessful.

I really don't know what to think other than it does not sound right. Having a picture on their phone when the property doesn't show up any where else doesn't make sense.
Rental property scam may be, but I do wonder if this pair (may be even part of a larger gang) photograph houses and hope to find elderly alone and use photos of house to make it seem legitimate to gain access and some how con/rob them. Who knows what their plan might be. Hopefully, you've called their bluff and they wont bother you again, but do feel the police should take more notice of this as it may be part of some larger scam.

My thought was that they were casing your house with a view to a later burglary! A possible other explanation is the property rental scam of which these may have been victims. The scenario here is that a fake agents website is set up with properties listed for rental and the then would be tenant is conned into handing over a large holding deposit and of course never sees their money again! This was highlighted recently in scams awareness week and is now a common scam especially in areas of high housing demand due to lack of housing stock and desperate would be tenants!

I would definitely warn the police as the couple might try it on with someone less on the ball.

granny
Predictive text changed my comment on my friend's bunions to 'minions'! Says something about popular culture.

You ought to let Zoopla know as well.

Bathseba - these days anyone who is good at using photoshop or a similar computer program can probably update an older photo to look brand new. Either this couple have had access to your house at some time, or to one very like it and have doctored some photos to fit their fake add. Have you ever uploaded photos of your house to Facebook or other media?

This is some kind of scam, so I hope you got some help from the police. Please do follow the advice to update your security, both locks on windows and doors, alarm and internet security.

Ring the police. You be amazed the sort of people that are dishonest. I hope you didn’t let them in.

Bathsheba don't know where you live but have you checked Airbnb for your property? There are numerous scams about at the moment connected with that site. And is it possible that whilst they were showing you the picture on their phone they could have been taking pictures?

Definitely dodgy, contact police.

Could the photo(s) have been taken from Facebook or other social media?
Definitely call the police. You will be out through to a call centre. Explain what has happened and they will take it from there. You will be given an incident no as well.

NudejudeWelldone.
Don't you just get a kick knowing you are one up on these what are clearly 'not so bright as they think they are' fraudsters.

Having only sold and purchased through an agent would hesitate letting any one in other than previous confirmation from the agent.
I had two experiences when selling my last one when a neighbour brought her alleged sister into view as she was thinking of moving to be by 'sis' I found out later from another neighbour this wasn't her sister they were just being plain b******y nosey. The next incident was when I saw a person staring through my window and asked what were they doing 'They wanted to see what it was like' 'Why not arrange a viewing I asked The reply was 'Oh well if you don't want to sell that's your problem' As I live in a popular seaside resort I can only believe they were holiday makers with nothing better to do.

Alert the police as this may not be an isolated incident.

Personally, I love QuizQueens input on this one - taking a photo and joking about evidence in case they burgled you later.

As an aside, I had someone run into my car while in town one day, I wasn't in the car but saw the young girl and her friends who did it. I approached and looked at the damage, and she asked if she could take a picture of the car to prove to her employer, whose car she was driving, the amount of damage. This prompted me to take her picture. As it turned out, it was the best thing I could have done, as when it came to the insurance claim, she denied even being there. The minute I sent in her photo, it was a done deal, so if in doubt about anyone these days, take their picture, it will either make them think twice about committing any planned crime, or failing that, be vital evidence to hand to the police.

You have informed the Police, and I feel that you have been fobbed off.
Were you given a log number or recorded the identity of the person you spoke to?
There is no information that you have provided that would be of interest to Action Fraud. Have a look on their website.
Ring the Police again, record the time and the identity of the person you spoke to and request a visit from the local Police Community Support Officer. They will record your info and decide what to do with it.
As a matter of interest you could ask them if they are aware of your original call.
If nothing else your info will be recorded for intelligence purpose.
Have a look on Google for crimes committed in your area.
Enter your location followed by crime.
The actions of the couple are suspicious. Can you be certain that no one else had checked out the rest of your property, albeit from the outside, whilst you were chatting to this couple?
It could be innocent but the fact they had the photo, references to Rightmove and Zoopla suggest that it could have been an attempt at a Distraction Burglary, though there is absolutely no physical evidence of this and it would not be recorded as such.

Sounds like an attempt at burglary artifice. I agree with other people saying notify the police. They are probably doing the rounds of the area, either trying to find out who is in or to talk their way in.

Zoopla. Love predictive text!