A Toronto woman is out $2,300 after falling for a rental scam on Craigslist, a popular website of free classified advertisements, CBC News has learned.

Katherine Griggs said someone who assumed a real estate agent's identity online duped her into sending a moneygram for a promised low-rent, spacious apartment in a trendy part of the city.

Toronto police Det. Mark Charuk said the suspect used the Multiple Listing Service and communicated with people by e-mail pretending to be real estate agent Tanya Schoen.

At least 30 people showed interest in the apartment, but when they contacted Schoen by phone they discovered that she had no idea what they were talking about.

Meanwhile, Griggs, 22, e-mailed the scam artist, a move she says was her first mistake. The fake agent then conducted a scam with plenty of twists and turns to get the moneygram, along with the victim's name, address and phone number.

'I hope you never have to go through something like that'—Katherine Griggs

Griggs has this message for the scammer: "You are a very cruel person and please give me my money back. You don't understand what you have done to us and put us through and I hope you never have to go through something like that."

Officials at Craigslist say these kinds of scams are rare because most users of the site who carry out transactions meet in person.