Scams through craigslist? (Deposit: sublet, apartment, renting)

[ludwg]

Does anyone know anything about scams through craigslist because I'm looking for shared rooms. I came through several listing, I emailed probably about a dozen of the ads that I was interested in and never got any reply. If anyone got any tips to contribute, that would be great.
Thing to avoid,
1. Too good to be true.
2. Wire transfers.
3. Incoherent spelling.
4. Large deposits?

[Henna]

I'm not sure if you are worried about the lack of response to your emails or if you're worried about being scammed. The scams as far as I know are pretty easy to spot and usually involve your sending a check to an offsite landlord for an underpriced apartment.

If you are not getting replies to your emails for roommate postings, it may be because you have not composed an appropriate email or have not bothered to read the entire ad. If someone posts a very specific ad with lots of details, like about what the roommates do for a living and how often they're home (etc.) and you send an email that says "hi, I'm interested in the room. please email me" then I can pretty much guarantee you you won't get a response, esp. if the apt. situation is a desirable one. They will have far too many other (detailed) responses to waste their time with yours.

Believe me, I know, because I went through this. I was the one with an apartment in a great nabe and a low price and I needed to sublet it. Within a few hours of posting it I had around 50 emails from people basically begging and pleading to have it. I ignored MOST of them and responded to the ones where I got a good sense of the person - enough details without being over the top. No excessive demands on me, no couples, nobody who wasn't available in NYC to view the apt and meet with me. Anyway, hopefully you get the picture.

[cjma79]

2. never use wire transfers, or WU NEVER.....
3. Hmm difficult to say, some brokers aren't american. English is a second language for a lot of people in NYC.
4. Deposits: with broker fee or without brokers fee???
Deposit(usually is 1 month) + 1 months rent.
If the is 1500 a month, you should have 3,000 dollares 1500 deposit, 1500 first month.
Some ask for first and last + security deposit, that would be 4500, using the same numbers as above.
with brokers fee usually is 1 month + deposit + fee.
Fee could be from 1, 1.5 or even 2 months.
If you are working with a broker, always ask for his lic. number. Then go online and see if its real.

[ecam222]

They are phishing for emails to spam you later.

[allforcats]

You might find this City-Data thread interesting:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/renti...ist-scams.html