You'd have to do the research locally, market by market, to determine who the players are.

I've printed out a Notice to Quit and will post it on their door for legal protection.

Many players will not have your best interests at heart.

And yes this is a 1 in 1000 situation but plenty of other disasters could happen and having the right insurance policy is huge to protecting down side risk. 

By recognizing the signs and implementing effective preventative measures, landlords and property managers can protect themselves from potential scams.

The later is critical to protect your investment.

And, the longer you wait to act, the longer the squatter stays - and even gains some legal protections to stay while your waiting on a slow court system to act on an eviction. 

In the NE states, AKA tenant friendly states, I would always have a PM to help protect my interests.

An emergency fund needs to be liquid, and immediately available to you in addition to being low risk and protecting principle. 

There are thousands of pages on consumer protection laws and regulations that depending how you go about doing a subject to could be against these laws and regulations. so like most things - is itillegal - it depends.