Contacted by "Bird Dogger"?

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Hello all. I am new to this website and look forward to learning new things.

Here is my question.

Recently I was contacted by a man who was interested in purchasing one of my properties. I assume he pulls names of Tax Records and calls until he finds an owner willing to sell. Well it just so happens he caught me at the right time. I have one property I told him I would like to sell. He was very interested and began to talk as if he represented investors. The following day he submits to me the most basic contract I had ever seen in my life with no signature. I immediately call my agent and have him write up a standard gar contract. We then ask to see proof of funds and proof of earnest money. Before we had a binding agreement I agreed to let someone come out and look at the property. Well this individual comes out and takes a few pictures and says that its in good shape and they will defiantly be purchasing the property. The next day the original guy gives me a call and puts me through to a woman who is claiming to be the "investor". She then explains to me that they will need to bring out a couple more people to view the property before they purchase.

I then explain to her that we have no binding contract and I have not seen proof of funds. She almost gets defensive and seems like I am requesting the world of her to see the funds. Well finally she sends them to me, and let me tell you that it smelled a little fishy. I told her that I will send over a binding agreement if I want to still do the transaction. Well I replied saying I would not and about an hour later the original guy gives me a call back asking what happened. I explained something does not seem right about this whole deal.

After some investigation into this guys email I come across a website that looks to have listings of some distressed and abandoned properties. In addition there is a section outlining "Birddogging" and asking for people who would like to try this out.

I apologize for this lengthy email and I am awful at telling stories. So I will try to sum this up with a question.

As a real estate investor/homeowner, when approached by someone who is "Birddogging" what type if things do I need to be cautious of and how do I handle the situation?

There have been so many red flags, yet I would hate to lose out on someone who is willing to buy my property at a fair market value while Im motivated to sale.

Any advice?