Entrapment, or stupidity?

I've recently been listed as a reference for two friends, one who's job-hunting and one who's apartment-hunting. I've never worked with the job-hunting friend, yet the temp agency representative who was checking references insisted on not modifying her standard list of 5-point-scale questions based on that information, which I provided to her over and over again during our conversation.

TA: So, what were the terms under which this person left the job?
Me: Um, actually, I've not worked with him, so I can't answer that question.
TA: Okay, moving on...So, would you hire this person again?

My apartment-hunting friend is someone I work with, and she listed several of us at work as references. And the rental place chick called me yesterday and asked me about her, leading with:

RC: I'm a little concerned because she's only been working there since April.
Me: Well, April of 2004, so more than a year.
RC: Oh, really? I thought it was just a few months. Oh, would you look at that.
April of '04. Okay, thanks."

Today, she called another of our colleagues, and had the EXACT same conversation, with the "only a few months" followed by the "Oh, really? April 2004? Huh!"

So I'm not quite sure about this: are they just playing dumb, trying to trip us up and reveal inadvertently that their applicants are full of lies? Or are they actually dumb, and don't pay attention? I'm kind of leaning toward the latter, which is incredibly depressing, but I think it's closer to the truth.