Syndications: How do you deal with the trust issue?

[Howard R.]

Hi.  I am new to BP (former FatWallet member though!).  I have been investing in RE for ~10 years and hold 5 properties.  They have not been time-intensive, but I'm always interested in smart financial options.  The Google led me to this site from a different question (are there no companies that do all the work that mortgage servicers do without the mortgage part?), but the first forum post I saw was on real estate syndications.

Reading through the various threads on BP gave me a good overview of the concept, but very little information about the process and the risk.  In my other (professional) life, I work for a federal agency and have seen a lot of fraud.  Like, a lot.  And it usually comes in the form of people seeking investments and trusting individuals based on their pitch and purported credentials, which may or may not be honest/legitimate.  So the apparent word of mouth approach to syndications, frankly, raises a lot of questions in my mind.  

I know a ton of folks on BP are big fans of passive investing via syndications.  Can some of you provide some comfort -- or ways to get comfort -- about the approach and, as importantly, the people who are doing the managing?  In other words, how do people get past the trust issue?