Messing with a scammer

I love Craigslist, it's been very helpful especially when looking for a new place to live. One thing i aboslutely DESPISE about Craigslist are the scammer who get my hopes up real high by offering an almost too good to be true offer and then breaking my heart. Thank you to the scammers who have jaded me, and have generally made me always suspiciuos of anything that reads like a good deal.

Anyways, one day I was feeling a little spunky and decided that I was going to just screw with one of these scammers. Maybe get their hopes up before I crush them. Below is the email thread between me and this scammer "Amy Reece."

This is the first email i got from her:
Hello,
The apartment is still available for rent. Located at 1333 Gough Street, San Francisco, CA 94109 with 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 kitchen and a living room. The rent will be $875/month with all utilities included. I need a serious and trust worthy person who not only that will pay the rent on time but will also take care of my property like it was his own.
I moved my business to London, UK, that is the main reason i decide to rent this apartment. I'm looking to rent it for a longer period, but a shorter lease will work for me as well, so please let me know your thoughts.
I've chosen to rent the apartment through Rent.com, an eBay company, whose service we'll use to carry out the transaction. Rent.com has the possession of all the necessary documents (rental contract, proof of ownership...) and apartment keys. If you want to know more about how this Rent.com service works, let me know.
Thank you,

I was still a noob at recognizing scams, so I actually replied back full of hope:
HI Amy,
I'm looking to move in on Sept 1, but I can move in earlier if that works better for you, as this is an ideal location for me.
I don't think you'll have to worry about things like rent being on time taking care of the place with me as I've never had those kind of problems with any of my previous apartments. I prefer to pay my rent as soon as I get my paycheck, and I generally do the best I can to keep the place I live in in excellent condition, nobody wants to live in a dump right? =)
I would assume that the next step would be to step up some time so that I can take a look at the place? I'm available any weekday after 5pm, and anytime on the weekends. Or do I schedule that with Rent.com as well?
Thanks, Jason

To where she replied: Hello again,
If you decide to proceed with this transaction, i will be needing your full name and address to pass it onto Rent.com, so they can start the process right away.
Regarding the payment, you will be instructed to deposit 3 months advance rent payment, to a Rent.com account. They will hold and insure your money until you check the apartment and decide if you want take it or not. If you decide to rent the apartment, 2 months rent payment will be sent back to you and one month rent will be sent to me. That is how their renter protection policy works. If you will decide to pass and start looking for another place, Rent.com will return you the money, and i will be supporting the service fees.
As far as my concerns, I will be glad to know that Rent.com has the possession of the money during the transaction period. That is my insurance.. I require the payment in advance at Rent.com because my time is very limited, I don't want to end up paying Rent.com for this service without any result.
Upon payment is received and verified by Rent.com, an Agent will deliver the keys and rental contract to you in person so you can inspect the apartment.
Hope to hear from you soon,

Now I'm thinking, OH she's using rent.com??? this MUST be legit. Right? At this point I reached out to the actual Rent.com. Got a call back from the actual land person, who informed me that this was a scam. FML. My my hopes dashed, I decided that I was going to do everything I can to try and pay this scammer back. So I decided to keep the email going: Hi Amy,
My name is Jason HanMy address is 4423 Buckingham Blvd, Oakland, CA 94618Sounds great, please let me know where to send the money.
Thanks,

To which she replied: Hi Jason,
I started the transaction through Rent.com.
They should get in touch with you soon, through an e-mail notification, with all the instructions on how to secure the funds.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you,

At this point I received an email from "rent.com" The email looked somewhat legit, not really and it provided me with information on how to send the "3 month deposit"Pay with cash ( $ 2625 ) at any Western UnionOffice using the Rent.com Agent's payment details:Henry Oliver, 76 Burbage Road, London, SE24 9HE, United Kingdom.Send us a copy of the payment receipt by email or simply send us the following Western Union informations: MTCN # (10 digits), sender's, full name and address, receiver's full name, total amount you've sent.Emails us the payment details : rent.com@live-representative.comSend us a copy of the payment receipt by fax : 206-337-7175Click here to locate the agents in your area. You must go to a Western Union office with cash and make a Money Transfer to the name and address of our agent.You must complete a form there. You must write there the agent's name, location, amount. You must declare it a personal transfer at the Western Union office, otherwise you will not be able to send the money. Western Union is the only service that has ultimate authentication of the identity of the receiver of funds. The funds will be hold in escrow until you receive the package and confirm that you want to rent the apartment.

So that's how they were going to scam money from me.... well i thought about it for a little bit, and decided to reply to Amy and see if I could haggle with her to lower a price a bit. Hi Amy,
I got the thing from Rent.com... before moving forward, I actually found another place that was a bit cheaper ($800), and it's pretty close to that area. Is there any wiggle room in the price? Otherwise, I'm not so sure I can move forward with the process.
Thanks, Jason

To which she replied; Hi,
I will lower the rent to $800 if you are ready to move forward buti need a fast response.
Thanks

OF COURSE YOU NEED A FAST RESPONSE YOU SCAMMER DOUCHE. Anywhoo, after a little bit, I decided hey I'm going to try to "send the moneY" see if I can get their hopes up. I did a quick read on the the Western Union instructions, and then followed up with: Hi Amy,
I sent the money ($2,400) via the Western Union site that was provided by the Rent.com email.
However at the end of the transaction, my web browser kind of froze and i couldn't move forward. I was wondering if maybe the money went through or not. Can you confirm whether you received the money or not?
Thanks

See if I could waste the scammer's time. I didn't really get a response, so I decided to write to "rent.com" as well: I attempted to wire $2,400 dollars on the Wetsern Union site to a Henry Oliver, 76 Burbage Road, London, SE24 9HE, United Kingdom.
However, at the end of the transaction, my browser froze when I clicked on the confirm button. Can you confirm whether or not the payment went through? Or is this something I should contact Western Union about. I would hate to wire the money twice.
Please advise.
Thanks,

I got a realy quick response from the rent.com customer rep, who told me that I can't wire that large of an amount online. Hello,Thank you for contacting Rent.com, You will have to complete the transfer at a local Western Union office in cash. The payment is to high for a wire transfer. This is the Western Union policy.Sincerely,Rent.com Support Team

DOH! I guess I can't wire them money online.... well after i got this i decided to reach out to Amy: Hi Amy,
Nevermind my last email, I just spoke a representative at Rent.com and that person told that the amount I was trying to wire was too big to transfer online. So even if my browser froze, there's no chance that the money went through.
It'll have to wait until tomorrow, but I'll find a local office to wire the money over.
Thanks.

To which she replied like 2 minutes later: Hi Jason,
Just got in. I hope you are well.
I heard something about a transfe rlimit on the western union website with a credit card or debit card and the only way to transfer the funds will be in cash at a local western union agent.
Thank you,

and i'm thinking wow... this person is probably pretending to be the rent.com customer support team, and this amy reece person as well. I wonder I this person is just making stuff up on the fly or if he has all these kinds of repsonses prepared for.

Anyways... I'm kind of stuck now on what to do. I thought about saying that I sent the money, creating a fake Western Union receipt and see if I could mess with this person some more. Anyone have any ideas?