Their use of a somewhat-known bikini model sounds like the same technique phishers use to weed out their victims: introducing typos/stories that non-gullible people would easily see as discrediting the entire ploy. If anyone continues from that point on, they've already proven that they're susceptible to being scammed, and the job is that much easier.
Good point. Craigslist is a hotbed of spammers and phishers, especially in the housing section. They employ some pretty transparent tactics: amenities that are too good to be true at the given price point, pictures that you can easily reverse search, etc. They're looking for people who won't ask too many questions.
