How to spot basic scams

[Roger Mann]

Hello!
I have done my first US real estate investment and seem to have walked straight into a scam :cry:

Since I don't live in the US I don't really know much about the buying process in the US. I attended a GO Zone promotion in the UK. The deal looked good with a forgivable loan of $73,000 (SRAP) for investing in a $168,000 duplex. And a promise of the getting deposit if I would not be approved for the SRAP money.
The paperwork included a lot of papers to be signed. In it was an escrow release form, to be signed but not dated, like all other documents. I did not realize the implications of this back then but I certainly have understood it now. :oops:

Nothing happened for months, but in the end the US promoter gave up and recommended everyone to ask to get their deposits back. (The developer hasn't built a single house or duplex) Needless to say, the developer has not been interested in returning any emails or phone calls. And I have understood that the signed escrow release form was, for the developer, not just useful to speed up the deal.

Having no experience of deals in the US, I have a basic question. That an escrow release form was included in the paperwork, is that common or is it a clear scam warning?
Do you think it was a scam from the very beginning? (Yes, the developer is one of the Florida developers that focussed on the GO Zone after the Florida real estate market crashed)
The US promoter has recommended a class action (So far the UK promoter seems to think that everything is going according to plan, just a little bit slower than initially planned. So much for their talk about all the due diligence they do!)
Does anyone have any knowledge about outcomes of similiar class actions? Is it worth spending more money and time? If it was set up as a scam from the very beginning the money has probably been moved offshore long time ago.

Any comments?
I would appreciate if you can tell me about other common scams that one must look out for before signing any paperwork!