No different than gambling. 

I do around 60% direct bookings and have a few steps to help establish against chargebacks and fraudulent charge claims. 1) We use Stripe to process payments, and they have a pretty solid fraud system.2) We use chekin.com to register guests to make sure they match the credit card. 3) We don't take day of bookings 90% of the time. 4) charge a refundable $250 security deposit5) you can also use something like Superhog or Safely for damage protection.We also have a rental agreement, which you can have written for you by a local real estate attorney.

Despite all his experience, his assistant wired $750,000 to a fraudulent account and the money was lost.

So the Deed in escrow avoids some costs but also takes another step to be as protected as you were.I was in the mortgage business for about 15 years, and multiple title transfers do catch the attention of underwriters - from back in the days of fraudulent flips with inflated appraisals. 

As has been said if you don’t have anyone local to rely on you’re probably gambling.

They have not proven it is an ESA and they are probably fraudulent because there is no such thing as a "registration" for an ESA.

In short, what they offer is fraudulent and they well know it. 

Any illegal activity like drug dealing, prostitution or gambling can attract unwanted elements.

Emotional support pets are widespread fraudulent activity (although some are very real and helpful) everywhere and renters like to fake you out on it.

Scam is dishonest or fraudulent...they provide a community outlet and education so I guess some folks above need to revisit their definition of scam.