Wynnfield Finance Center Warning: Loan Scam Alert! Internet

I was desperate and filing out loan applications online. Two days later I received a call from a "financial institution" willing to give me a 10,000 loan. They said based on my "bad credit history" that I had to put a down payment down on my loan of 965, which would cover me till July and show a good faith that I will pay on the loan. They sent me a fax of a contract and told me to send a copy of last page of contract, copy of my license, and and a copy of a blank check (so they could have my direct deposit info). I was going to go through with it for sure but decided to ask my mother for advice first. She told me to check out the Better Business Bureau first and to research the company. BBB hadn't heard of them. So I then googled the name and found a website. The website was legit. I then googled up "ways to spot loan scams" and it gave 5 good ways to spot scams. "Wynnfield Finance Center" violated 3 of there rules. They weren't acknowledged by the BBB, They charged a fee before sending the actual loan( they said a real loan company would never do this), and then when I google mapped the location on the contract, I called the businesses associated with the address and they said no company of that name is in this building. Thank GOD I asked my mom first!