How to spot a craigslist scam

At least how to spot a craigslist real estate ad scam.  In New York as many people know there are more rental properties than single family homes so brokers here specialize in rental's generally as their income source.  Now I cannot fault the broker's entirely though through personal and professional experience they are very creative in their ad making and how they attract customers.  We are thinking of moving here in NY and I was doing a little searching and I just keep coming across the absolute worst scams.  The newest one that i have run into most often is one where the person will respond to me questions telling me that i need to run my credit before we go any further......um.....excuse me?  NO!  Sorry bud, that's not how it works bad economic times or not (by they way the recession has ended, maybe i should have mentioned that.....)


Here are a few hints that an ad is probably a scam:
1. Incorrect spelling or grammar (obviously)
2. All caps (this is just a personal observation, either it's a scam or the person on the other end is too stupid to know how to work the caps lock button)
3. Only exterior photos of the house/condo/apartment are shown (because they don't have access to the inside - duh!) this one took me awhile, but it's a consistent pattern.
4. not leaving a real email address but using the craigslist created one also seems to point me in the direction of a scam.


So what can we do about this nonsense?  Flag them - every friggin one of them, let's take craigslist back to its original purpose which was for people to find and exchange goods and services for monetary or barter trade.  

Here is an example of my most recent finding:

$1500 / 2br - Lovely Waterfront Condo For Rent (Long Beach)

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Date: 2010-02-18, 4:33PM EST
Reply to: hous-fd44k-1607044124@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

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LOVELY WATERFRONT CONDO IN LONG BEACH IS CONVENIENT LOCATION NEAR BEACH.
THE UNIT FEATURES 2BR, 1FULL BATH, FDR, KITCHEN, CAC AND PARKING SPOTS.
NO FEE REQUIRED. PETS ARE WELCOME. LEASE TERMS ARE FLEXIBLE. CONTACT TODAY..

• cats are OK - purrr
• dogs are OK - wooof
• Location: Long Beach
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
• Fee Disclosure: credit check
• Listed By:

PostingID: 1607044124
....well this one did have an interior photo but the rest was pretty consistent, so was the response (below)


Hello,

Thanks for contacting us regarding the apartment rental.  We know you must have many questions about the apartment rental.
But before answering any questions, we need to know if you are currently up-to-date with your credit report to save you and I time.

Here is a link to a free, safe and recommended credit report checker : https://secure.keycreditreport.com/?ai=10421

Also, this application will only take two minutes!
The particular reason for this credit check is because, with the declining economy, there has been a large number of defaulting tenants --
we don't have any reason to believe you aren't a good tenant, but we just need to protect ourselves in this economic environment.

Don't forget to email me back after completing the application so we can set up an appointment for you to view the apartment.

Thank you.


........*sigh* so the search continues......


Ta
~CM