Scams in New York City

Wife and I continue our apartment hunt (ok, she continues the apartment hunt while I make inappropriate comments and suggestions). Every time we find a good deal here in Manhattan, we receive this response, which I posted below. See you if can spot the scam; I'll explain after the email (background: $1,750 is a very good deal for this apartment - but we have gotten this same type of response for deals that are just slightly better than average).

Hello WIFE,

First of all I would like to thank you for your reply to my apartment listing.

Now I would like to clear up some details. LOCATION: Midtown-West, Manhattan, 57th, 8th Ave.

Located in Columbus Circle, this apartment features newly renovated one bedroom, livingroom, kitchen, bath, in the heart of village directions, close to everyday amenities like video rental, pharmacy, and takeout, ideal for professional singles or couple.

The apartment is available for rent starting now for $ 1,750.00/month (parking spot and laundry facilities included).

The lease can be for a minimum 3 months. I’m the full right owner, I’m no broker or something else… The other utilities aren’t included in this price (rent/month), utilities are about $60.00-$80.00/month. Everything in this apartment is functional because is new. If you need to do some repairs in the apt(the worst case that could happen), i will refund the reparations cost, or i will deduct those from monthly payment. I moved with my job in England/ Liverpool, and I need money to pay the rent here; that is the reason I want to rent the apartment for this price, and also to find a trustworthy person for my apartment. I can rent you the apt for max. 3 years because I signed a working contract here for this period. Unfortunately I am the only person who own the keys, no one else have access in the apartment because it's a private property, but i am sure that we will find a compromise.

My conditions are: you must have two months rent in advance at the beginning of your staying and you will begin paying the rent normally from the 3rd month.
Your background credit must be clean.

Thank you for your interest and wait news from you.

Best Regards!
Karen LAST NAME,

BTW: This is a cat and dog-friendly building (no weight limit).

The scam is simply this: the "landlord" has always recently moved abroad for work (for some reason almost always to England) and wants to immediately rent their apartment. Because of their rush, they offer a great price. However, since they are abroad, they cannot show the apartment. But don't worry. You can look outside the building and see that it is a great building. If you want to see pictures, they can even email you some pictures of the inside. Since they are abroad, they cannot give you the keys either. Thus, all you need to do is wire them thousands of dollars (i.e., first two months rent, usually a security deposit as well), and then they will immediately overnight you the keys to move in. Let's take a vote: do you really think that an anonymous person in cyberspace is really going to mail you keys to an apartment you've never seen after you wire them several thousand dollars?

We have received more of these emails than we can count. I wonder how many people really fall for this scam.