According to Kiplinger's Personal Finance, young professionals are being targeted by newspaper and Craigslist scammers. They offer great apartments at reasonable prices, but the apartments don't exist.
The largest category of scams involved credit checks on nonexistant properties. Applicants who answered the ad were directed to visit a fake credit-check service. The scammer then collected the caller's financial information, credit report, and asked for a deposit to be wired before showing the fake property.
A recent study by NYU's Tandon School of Engineering found 29,000 fradulent listings on Craigslist in 20 major cities over a five-month period.
Katie Johnson, general counsel of the National Association of Realtors says you should never make a deposit on an apartment you haven't seen, and you should never send financial information by email.