Even if we never see our monies, at least he can not continue to do this scam to others. 

The most common loan scams involve paying money before anything of value is given to the client.

There is a 99.5% chance it's a fraud/scam of some sort. 

Programs like these are purely vote-buying scams against the taxpayers.  

HUD has gotten pretty touchy about people scamming folks out of there homes, so they have guidelines about what you can and can't say to homeowner in foreclosure.

I have been advertising with Zillow as a premier agent for 5 months now, and I can tell you that it is 100% a scam.

Fortunately, the amount money she scammed me for is a minor annoyance.  

I was reading in another BP post that NERT Online was a great place to start getting real estate info and to do public record searches, however I don't want to buy into the site if it's a scam...

If it is a law office that will be handling the assignment do I need to be aware of any sales techniques they  will try on me when I bring them the paper work (I imagine the  lawyer puffing a cigar sitting back in his chair staring at me with a bright white suite on looking like colonel sanders and  saying with a serious look on his face "son , I do believe you need to get x and x insurance because there are lot's of scams out there, protect yourself and don't be another  statistic, while you're at it you need to buy Advance Contract Performance Processing so your paper work does not get lost or something, it really is the smart thing to do in my professional opinion.

With all the phone scams out there now, people wanting personal information, I might just hand up on you if you called asking me all these questions.Also, whenever I am selling, I am always asked What is the lowest you will take?