I was mostly unemployed for a year or so. Admin assistant posts were attractive because it sounds like a simple office job. Also, 10-13/hr in an office is incredibly better than minimum wage labour. But as you say, over half are scams. For my region, craigslist was worthless.

Fwiw, my solution was to move to an area with lower unemployment (18% to 6%). I have no pro experience and no related education, but I got a dev job with a probation period to ensure I'm actually learning quick enough to be useful.