In this situation, I would be afraid that I was being scammed by the previous owner. 

I've been a licensed real estate agent and done several of my own deals over the years so no scams please.

If you found them from an investing group and what is the standard practice.I need to use one and have found people that are advertising themselves as private money lenders but i just want to make sure it isn't a scam of any sort.What do they usually require before proceeding?

At best I would be very hesitant and reluctant, at worst I would think of it as a scam.

I just started as a property scout for a company that may or may not be a scam just so I can get some experience under my belt.

Or are seller scams occurring?

@Sergey Perevalov My big concern for you is that you feed this project and devote untold hours and thousands of dollars chasing a few bucks from difficult, transient tenants or become a slave to the local Housing Authority.  

Absolute newbie here both to BP and realestate.Right now I am stuck in the rat race working as an account manager for an IT company and am going to devote myself to realestate investment as an exit strategy.My plan is to start with buy and hold and then start looking at flipping and wholesaling once I get better at estimating the amount of work a house or building needs.I am wide open to feedback and guidance from all the wonderful people here.Thanks,Luther

I don't have a lot of money but I have a decent amount of time to devote to this.

I would recommend the first one , rich dad/poor dad, and cash flow quadrantThe author has been shown to be a scam in recent years, and he licenses his brand to real estate seminars that steal money from peopleWith that said these two books, are good reads and definitely can change ones mind for the better.