Dear PoP – Craigslist Scams

Photo from PoPville flickr user ewilfong

“Dear PoP,

My little sister is moving to the city and is having a hard time finding a place for a reasonable price. She wants to be close to public transportation, and also needs parking and a landlord that won’t mind her 120lb dog. She found a place on craigslist in Georgetown- advertised as 2 bed, 2 bath, 1100sq foot for $1100 a month. Here’s the initial correspondence from the landlord (I’ve tried to take out the personal info):

> Hello,
>
> Thanks for taking the time to look at my property.My name is XXX, 52 years old and I’m the owner of this condo(2 bedrooms,2 bathrooms,1100 square footage).I lived in this beautiful condo for over 5 years,loved every day of it.It
>
> ‘s located in the heart of Georgetown at XXXX Grace St.The prime location can’t be beat and the garaged parking is an amenity sure to be appreciated by anyone(located at 1/2 block to M street,1/2 block to Georgetown Waterfront Park….Views of Potomac and Downtown Arlington from balcony).The condo is fully furnished with all necessary amenities(exactly like in the pics),the unit is equipped with recessed lighting, central air and heat, the condo come with two parking spots,a storage unit where you can deposit my furniture (if you don’t like it and you want use your furniture),there is also a linen closet, and most importantly, a new front loading stacked washer and drier.Pets allowed.I’ve moved to United Kingdom with my job and decided to rent it because the rent is very expensive here.The price is so low because I’m here and is very hard to find a tenant.I can rent you the condo for min. 1 month and max. 6 years(or more).I really want to find a good and responsible tenant for it, and I hope that you can send me some personal information about yourself.The rent for the whole condo for 1 month is $1100 including all utilities(water,electricity, internet, cable, parking , airconditioning, fireplace, dishwasher, garbage) and the security deposit is 1100$(you’ll get the deposit back at your departure-or you can use it to pay your last month of rent) and I want to receive the money monthly in my bank account. You can move in the condo in the same day when you receive the keys. The only problem is that I`m the only person who has the keys and I have nobody in United States that could show you the condo. In order to check it, see if you like it(I’m sure that you’ll love it), you need to receive the keys and the contract.
> If you want to rent the condo, please e-mail me back and I will explain you how the payment and shipping will take place!
>
> Regards, XXXX”

Yes, this is definitely a scam. For me this was an easy one. But I know I’ve been tricked at least once or twice when I’ve selected “Rentals of the Week”. So again, while this one may seem super obvious, what are other tips for picking out craigslist scams for rentals that are a bit more subtle but still a scam?