Possible rental scam on Gumtree? Please take a look for me

Recently I posted a ROOM WANTED advert on Gumtree. I was contacted by one "Andrew Steer" claiming to be a private landlord, and offering me a room in central London for 500 pounds instead of the original 600. I think it might be a scam because he's asking for a deposit before I arrive. I also thought it fishy that such a good room would be so cheap (he sent me pictures of the bedroom/kitchen/bathroom). Here is my full exchange with him so far:

Hi my name is Andrew ,
I'm a private landlord who currently rents out properties all across the uk.
I currently have a studio flat fully furnished available for rent now.
The property is located Newark street e1.
The rent is �600 per month due to being in a very high priced area.
I'm happy to lower the rent to �500 per month on the grounds that my property is kept up to a high standard that is already is.
Please feel free to ask anymore questions.
Kind regards
Andrew

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for getting in touch. Do you have any pictures of the property? And does the rent include bills?
Kind regards,

Hi
Please find attached pictures of the property.
Also bills are all included in the rent per month.
Kind regards
Andrew

Hi Andrew,
Looks great. I would be happy to take this room for 500pcm. If that suits you, I’ll be in touch tomorrow after I find a suitable date to move in. Let me know if you have any questions for me.
How many other people are living in the house? And what is the full address?
Best,

Hi that's great news.
There is only one other tenant living in the building, they are very quiet and I have never had any problems with them.
Did I mention to you about the deposit ? Also as you would like to take the property, are you happy to pay the deposit to secure the property ?
The deposit will be held in a government backed deposit scheme so your deposit will be safe. It is now the law since April 2008 that all deposits have to be entered into the deposit scheme.
Kind regards
Andrew

Hi
Andrew here I'm just wondering may I take your full name for my reference and for tenancy agreement please. Also you dob and previous address.
Kind regards
Andrew

Hi Andrew,
Thanks kindly for your patience. I will be arriving Friday 23rd October in the evening. Does this suit you? My details:

Name: XXXX
DOB: XXXX
Address: XXXX

How much is the deposit?
How old is the other tenant? And what is their gender and occupation?
Best,

Hi
Thank you so much for replying to me regarding property.


The other tenant is female and she is 23 years of age. She currently works as a personal assistant for a lawyer.
Never had any trouble with her she is very polite and friendly.
Hope this will be ok for you.

Regarding the deposit it will be a months rent in advance.
This will be put into a government backed housing deposit scheme.
So it will be very safe secure.


This will need to be paid as soon as possible to take the property of the market.
You will get confirmation from the deposit scheme once the payment has been transferred to them.


I'm happy to send you a email copy of the contract until we meet in person.


This can't be done until deposit has been received.


Hope this is of help to you.


The date you arrive is perfect for myself can we meet at 6.30pm are you happy with this.


Kind regards
Andrew

What do you think?

The email address is blocked by Gumtree.

It is a scam - no legitimate landlord would have you secure the room site unseen. The only scheme here is that they want to steal your money.

ETA: Corrected misinformation - noted - in the US there is no such thing as government-backed scheme, there is in the UK.

[AlanJones]

there's no such thing as a government-backed scheme holding your deposit to keep it safe.

In the UK, there is a legal requirement that all deposits are held in one of a number of Government approved schemes. However, the fact remains that in this case it is still a scam.

Thanks. I'm not going to continue with him.