., and we usually review 1 or 2 current deals, so you can see the numbers, how I found it, funded it, problems encountered, etc.

I have a few notes with a JV.We encountered a situation where we bought a Note but found that the person we were dealing with didn't have any authority for a buy back, which occurred as a result of changes occurring during the buy process.

If you take title, you will most likely encounter this.  

But expect to encounter a lot of that when looking at FSBOs.

I don't think they are scam artists, but they are less knowledgeable, and pushier than other lenders I have encountered.

I know people are afraid of using Craiglist to look for deals because of scams, but if you do your due diligence in research you can find some great FSBO deals and ones that aren't on Zillow.Consider joining the Brew City Real Estate Investors group.  

Begin by using Goggle and go to an appraisal site, then look  up the definition of FMV, that will tell you why guru dreams don't come true, Learn real estate, not scams from folklore seminars, podcasts, YouTube or public forums, etc.

I knew the customer was a scam artist because I overheard him spinning his tales to someone else.

How can I tell if this could be just another scam?

In the future never let a tenant do it themselves or you will face this scam again.