I had never fallen for a scam like this but Dutch is really believable and uses the God and country stuff to entice investors.

Agree Google nmls - funny on Facebook where 99% of private lending groups that are public are scam artists you get the "well license isn't required"I reply to this noting that while you are correct in some states - chances of a scammer with a nmls license are less than 1% while those without is 99% on sociale media 

Been doing wholesaling off and on with little success but hopefully more time to devote to that shortly.

I appreciate your first hand experience with them as there are so many scams out there.

Additionally, please share if this was a scam or not.

The most valuable lessons are issues that stop you in your tracks and you devote time and effort to solving them.  

I'm in a number of social groups for private lenders and have run into a lot of scams.

Those who had luck getting work paid most of it to the company because of fees and others say it’s a scam. 

They probably want to be certain YOU are legit.Most of the scams I've seen are by non-owners. 

If you have the time to devote to it, direct to seller methods can be very effective, but will take ultra-patience and intensive work.