Evil Twin #1 versus Craigslist scammers

I'll admit, I have fallen for more than one scam. Ones like, "Evil Twin #1, you are the only girl for me," and "No, I am not dating anyone else."

In my search for an new apartment, I have run into a number of scams. Ones even more tricky than those crafty boys I dated.

So for example, I replied for an ad for an apartment at the Lighthouse. The response asked me to come to a showing of the apartment ready with a credit report in hand. Seems normal. Even ET#2 thought it was legit. The scam was that the website he recommends for the credit report is not legit.
Click to read the email

Thank you for your interest in my condo for rent. I am booking appointments to view the condo and would be interested in having you take a look at the property, if you can suggest a date and time that works well for you this would be helpful.

Due to my previous renting experience I am requiring that you verify you have an acceptable credit score and would like to know more about your employment situation to avoid dealing with unqualified renters.

I would recommend getting a FREE credit report from http://www.creditgradegroup.com which takes less than 5 minutes and has no cost to you. This is required before I will consider you as a serious applicant. This will also be useful for any other properties you are looking at and is a standard in pre-rent screening procedures.

I am asking that you complete the report and provide me with the numerical score, please DO NOT send the report as it contains sensitive information, you can print it for your records and bring it with you to the viewing.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Some are a little more obvious. I mean any email from Africa has a twinge of suspicion. (Apologies to my scientific collaborators in South Africa. So when you get a grammatically erred email response it raises all sort of red flags:
Click to read the email

Thanks for your email an interest in renting our home,we are small christian family Volunteer working for Unicef and we arrive West Africa Two days Ago in supporting long term needs for clean water in Kenya, Sudan, Mali, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Benin, Republic, Nigeria and Ethiopia - providing the everyday needs of more than 389,500 people. Also Committed to mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS, which kills more than 6,000 Africans everyday, we are supporting community garden programs for AIDS sufferers and their families

We need a clean responsible person that we can trust to take a proper care of the home at all time because we will be spending a long time around the world and also we we are renting it Permanently,All Utilities are included in the rent and Below is the rental application please fill it and get back to me ASAP if you are interested renting our home..

RENTAL APPLICATION
Pls let me get this answer.
1) Your Full Name:
2) Your Full Address & Phone Number:
3) How old are you?
4) Are you married?
5) Do you have a pet?
6) Do you have a car?
7)Occupation?
8) Our prefer method of payment? Western Union or Money Gram?
9) When do you intend moving in?

Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that I can have it in my file incase of issuing the receipt for you and contacting you. Await your urgent reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the keys of the house to you. We are giving you all this base on trust and again i will want you to stick to your words, you know that, we do not see yet so please do not let us down with our property and God bless you more as you do this.
Regards.
u.
N:B:please note this that you cant go inside the house because the keys are right here with us but feel free to go view the exterior of the house and upon approval the keys will be send to you.

But quite frankly, I think some of the scams were quite sophisticated like this one. The woman says she is using a legitimate website to scam you.
Click to read the email

Happy to hear of your interest.
I moved to London, UK and I've decided to rent this apartment. The apartment is located at 951 Fells Street Baltimore, MD 21231 with 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 kitchen and a living room. I'm asking only $775/month with all utilities included because I need a serious and trust worthy person who not only will pay me the rent on time but also will take care and preserve my property.
I'm looking to rent the apartment for six months with an option to renew for another year, but I'm flexible, so please let me know your thoughts.
I decided to rent the apartment through Rent.com, a eBay company, whose service we'll use to carry out the transaction. Rent.com has the possession of all the necessary documents (rental contract, proof of ownership...) and apartment keys. If you want to learn more about how this Rent.com service works, let me know.
Thank you,

The worst part is that the rent's they are asking for are not that incredible all within normal range. Anyhoo, on with the hunt.