My girlfriend and I gave a guy $1200 for a non-existent apartment when we were 20. We met with him 3 times. The damage deposit, I don't feel so stupid about, but the rest, after he told us he couldn't show us the apartment because the current tenants' mom had cancer...
Another time, there was a string of robberies using bear mace in Vancouver but they only maced us and didn't take shit.