The likelihood of someone scamming me with a photoshopped pay stub seems pretty low.

@Hector Idarza I am glad you decided to stay away form them, please spread the word too..his youtube videos are informative but his products are a scam..we got scammed by them along with 300 other investors.

I wouldn't call it mentoring (though I've done plenty of that as well), as I don't have the time these days to devote to full-on mentoring, but I make myself available for questions, phone calls, analyzing deals, creative offers, etc.But, I've been VERY picky about those I'm willing to work with in this capacity. 

There is nothing wrong with paying for your education but many real estate investing gurus are a scam In general the more expensive the are the more likely they are a scam. 

He said that everything is virtual and i needed a program called REIwebtools. the thing is that the program cost about $1500 plus $97 each month. i was just wondering if anyone has tried it and if so is it real or a scam. im looking so desperately in my area for investors willing to pass down their knowledge to me.

Joe Kaiser was a scam artist.

These guys completely scammed me and many others.

My wife and I got started in real estate after attending one of the free "teaser's" that are put together to sell these scams.

The main points I wanted out of the question was 1) in what ways can I be scammed, 2) in what ways can I protect myself, respectively, and 3) was the deal worth it?

It depends on how much time you have to devote to investing and managing a OOS property and PM.What is your intent in regards to time commitments.