Its a frightening concept, but to combat it, I've aligned myself with friends and mentors that are successful in this work, and can guide me whenever I need help, which right now, is all the time. 

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.

Think what would happen say in China or Russia with this plan were it found to be fraudulent. 

Regarding if you should DIY manage or hire a PMC:Many new investors read a couple of posts and then think self-managing their rental property, and avoiding PMC charges, is an easy way to boost their ROI.The reality, is that many of these investors really haven’t taken the time to properly understand what it takes to properly manage a rental property and the corresponding tenants.Here’s a list of some of the requirements to properly manage a rental property:Knowledge of all local municipality, state and federal landlord requirementsIntimate knowledge of all Fair Housing statutesUnderstand all federal privacy laws, as they’ll be handling social security numbers and IDsProper business insurance in the event their computer is hacked and or they improperly dispose of tenant data.Where to advertise their rental, other than ZillowWriting ads compliant with Fair Housing statutesCreating a process to accept calls/texts and schedule prospects to show their rentalA rental application and application fees that meet all local and state requirementsKnowing how to screen applicants to avoid professional tenants and the growing amount of fraudulent dataA lease compliant with all local, state & federal lawsUnderstanding local and state requirements regarding security deposit collection and holdingRent acceptance options for tenants and accounting system to track, including late fees, etc.Plans to handle nonpayment of rent issuesKnowledge of their local eviction laws or access to an attorney familiar with evictionsHow to accept, track and respond to tenant maintenance issuesBuilding a list of handymen and contractors for maintenance and turns between tenantsExpertise at evaluating tenant damages to charge against security deposit when tenants move outResearching local utility requirements to avoid suspension of services that could lead to frozen pipes or flooded basements, etc.

My goal is 10 SFH, as I'm just looking to supplement a $3,000 a month pension (inflation will slowly drain its buying power, so turning to real estate to combat that effect) that I'll start drawing from in 2023 at the age of 53. 

Any creditor that accepts payments by phone could potentially receive payment via a fraudulent check, not just one where you have a relationship (and it's a creditor the thief owes, so it could be some creditor totally unfamiliar to you).

Only people worried about interest rate and now people claiming that it's fraudulent posters.

Many fraudulent tenants will not even bother applying because they know they will be screened so it significantly reduces the number of bad applicants.

Keeping that in mind, the majority who overstay their non-immigrant visas will not have social security numbers unless other factors apply or they obtained those cards fraudulently.

.  ;-) If you can give insight if this is a bad idea or if I can  I put realestate in a different way without making any fraudulent mistakes realestate is all I think of every day