A friend of mine, came to Shanghai not long ago for work, he was looking for an apt to rent.
I have been helping him the past week, mainly communicating with agents since he does not speak Chinese.

Bottom line:
He works in Lujiazui, and he has set his heart on an apt in the Shimao #5 tower, the place is pretty nice from what I can tell.
Everything seems good, place is brand new, furniture is decent, price is agreed upon, etc etc etc. The agent wants to get a contract signed asap.

Now here is the problem:
Not sure if it's the usual practice or not, but he appears to be pretty much a freelancer. I mean the guy claims he works for a real estate company, but we never saw his company/office, he always met with us at the properties, he only has a cell phone, not a ground phone.
He wants my friends to meet with landlord's rep(since landlord is never in town), and sign the contract. He said Shimao Tower #5 is too new, no ownership certificate has been issued yet, so the landlord's rep will bring a temporary sales receipt plus landlord's ID to the signing. We are expected to give him 1/2 month of rent as deposit, then full payment on the day when we receive the key.

My friend knows nothing about China, but I was thinking, can it possibly be a scam?
What if we pay the 1/2 month rent, and everything turns out to be fraud? We have nothing on them, except a cell phone #.

Is that a valid concern?
Or is this how most of those agents work? Just a freelancer goes out there and hustle but it's actual legit?

Could be a scam for sure.

I think your friend had every right to question it and ask for more validity/assurance that the guy in question has the right to rent the property out.

I mean he showed us a dozen units, some units had real owners in there, so I assume he somehow is affiliated with a realtor company.
he just seems to be too much of a freelancer for comfort.

I think you or your friend have every right to see his office. If he says no, ask him why not. That's what I would do if I had the same questions that you have now.