I ask them to show me the email and what I gather, from the little Spanish I understand, is some scam artist is trying to get them to mail a deposit.

A majority of list brokers are scams, the only reputable service that I see time and time again is www.srds.com, more specific this link: http://www.srds.com/frontMatter/ips/category/directmktg.htmlThese folks seem to have their stuff together.

thanks...i called the local police about my options, and they said it was my call--I dont even think they were listening to me...but yeah, I did put a call into my lawyer and he is going to get back to me....for now I just moved there stuff in the basement/storage area---Come to find out with a little research they scammed me pretty good.

Sorry to here about this ,Sounds like attorney time ,this wont get your money back but you could always put the word out that he is a scam artist and make it real hard for him to find new investors-it really is a small community and once word gets out!!

Craigslist may be good for certain things, but I have found a lot of scams on their site.

Just like we as investors hate hearing about people claiming to be investors that really just SCAM people.

Did I just get scammed or has that happened to anyone else?

What is you exposure if the deal you raised money for is a scam or the person messes the deal up royally and loses the equity all their money?

Total scam........ they are often expensive, don't totally cover the items, the companies they use to "fix" claims are often crap and they will band aid the issue until the end of time......The single benefit is if you are OOS, you call them and they handle the claim, so you don't have to find your own repair people etc.....so its ease of use...... but you often have to manage the insurance company as they jerk you around, stall and band aid the actual issue.....Had one when I bought a rental in TX and then continued it when the initial expired..... regretted it to this day.I'll take one as part of the deal when I buy.... but wont keep paying for it myself.Better off building a network of repair companies you trust

Maybe some spectacular failures on the coasts will help people to see it for what it really is: a sham and a scam.