Can they just show up randomly and stay there for a week?

OOS investing is much harder than it looks and picking a random city that you don't know much about will put you at a disadvantage. 2) Network with several local investors in the city you're considering investing in.

Ask 10 random people, 8 have never heard the name, that is how fast things are changing.In my mind the outcome is crystal clear.

I don't know how much you are willing to do personally to recover your money, but it seems like Scott does still care about people hurting his online image (Zero Star ratings on his podcast and book on Amazon, Complaints with BBB, rip off report etc. )  And about not getting reported to the SEC, State Securities Board, etc, so you might try to work those angles in addition to the ones you mentioned. 

Not impossible, but normally they have their procedures and don't really want to take calls from random people. 

Haha good question, sounds pretty random!

Those I see suffering in STR, just got a random property and threw it onto various STR platforms. 

In Google Chrome, right click on the picture and "Search Google For Image."

buying some random property you've never seen, because someone who stands to make money off it tells you it's a deal, and then trusting it to people you've never met? 

Take this 💥just-closed renovated property for example💥:With my query of "22757 Charlemont Pl, Woodland Hills, CA 91364 5/4/2400-3050,0.6,300" we get an ARV Estimate that is ~4% off, and I picked this at random just scrolling through recently closed in my areaAnd the Market Stats $/sf of renovated property in that Zip Code matches up pretty well, so I know the ARV estimate is realistic:You can also run Agent Stats to find/get in touch with the real top-agents in that area so you can triple-verify everything and/or list it with them when you are done.