I am in the process of using them now but they charged me a higher then what I normally pay in appraisal fees ($750 is what they charged me) and then they added a processing fee of $90 after I paid the $750  (and they didn't tell me there would be any other charges yes I asked) and now they need me to set up an LLC after they knew i was doing business as a sole proprietor or take 10% less LTV on my refinance which won't give me the capital I would need to make my next deal work.. so I don't recommend them at all, i don't know if they are a "full" scam but they definitely need to work on their process if they are legitimate. 

If so, I think thats scam, the buyer of the house believe its rented and the tenant (your friend) goes out after one month.

These all save time and get you to a close quicker on your deal.Be very careful, to vet lenders in this domain, there are for sure some scam artists.

I was too ambitious to make money moves while my divorce is pending and just got scammed out of $65k of my $100k investment funds.

It sounds like a scam but I don't know. 

It does seem shady and a possible way to scam potential renters on the surface.

It's likely an outright scam!...

On the other side, I have also heard of some people getting scammed by syndication groups, so I'd definitely be careful if you go down that path. 

I considered flying out but now that you’ve mentioned the scamming I will most definitely do so to meet in person.  

After looking at a realtor forum though they seem to have a very negative view saying that it is basically a scam for people selling “courses”, and that it is very close to at times or is illegal.