And I have even heard from investors who stopped using Craigslist because they did not want their ads' photos hijacked by scammers; one guy did not even have a CL ad but the scammers hijacked the photos from his ad elsewhere and made their own scam CL ad!

I have been scammed by a lot of contractors.  

I was the victim of a scam where this local welder goes around saying he is going to build handrails for people, takes a deposit, and never delivers.

What are my options related to access to the funds to make sure they have not scammed me?  

But if they don't close, there is no refund and that is called an advance fee scam.

Yep, that's a lot of work.Building a site, who's sole purpose is to gather contacts (aka buyer's / seller's lists) without providing substantive content, IMO is foolish today, as most people are afraid of identity theft and scamming by phone or email.Just like membership here at  BP, contributors are the ones that get leads.

Found a company called "Realty Wired" at the address from the email  *3162 Johnson Ferry Rd Ste 260-108 Marietta GA 30062*Had multiple bad reviews about it being a scam.

Cashflow Meetups might be a good place to network with other like-minded investors, but realize scam artists attend these events also (as Willie Sutton once said, he robbed banks because that's where the money is).

Real estate will always represent >>75% of my net worth, but I no longer think mutual funds are such a scam.

Any time someone tells you over 10% COC just run the other way it's either a scam or super high risk.