Doesn’t smell like it to me, and paying up front makes scamming harder. Are you thinking “he’s scouting for marks” or “the cost is mostly in dispute headaches” or “people who join schemes this weird end up in a ditch”?
There are free money scams where someone transfers money from stolen credit cards.
One way might be to agree to pay $1000 dollar and then “accidentally” transfer $2000 (from a stolen credit card) and then ask the person to transfer $1000 dollar back to another bank account.
I think RatsWrongAboutUAP did offer to pay in crypto which removes the option for these kinds of frauds. Otherwise, just avoiding transferring any money even if someone overpays you is also a good heuristic.
Scamming is adversarial, so it’s normal for a scam to appear like it’s safe. But I’m not claiming my pattern match is superior to yours.
A scam could include getting financial information to get money, or a voice print for impersonation. Maybe the scammer has insider information about UFOs. Maybe it’s entrapment for breaking gambling laws. Maybe a journalist is writing a story about how evil rationalists exploit innocent people with fringe beliefs for money.
The scam probability doesn’t have to be large for it to dwarf the apparent benefits.
Doesn’t smell like it to me, and paying up front makes scamming harder. Are you thinking “he’s scouting for marks” or “the cost is mostly in dispute headaches” or “people who join schemes this weird end up in a ditch”?
There are free money scams where someone transfers money from stolen credit cards.
One way might be to agree to pay $1000 dollar and then “accidentally” transfer $2000 (from a stolen credit card) and then ask the person to transfer $1000 dollar back to another bank account.
I think RatsWrongAboutUAP did offer to pay in crypto which removes the option for these kinds of frauds. Otherwise, just avoiding transferring any money even if someone overpays you is also a good heuristic.
Scamming is adversarial, so it’s normal for a scam to appear like it’s safe. But I’m not claiming my pattern match is superior to yours.
A scam could include getting financial information to get money, or a voice print for impersonation. Maybe the scammer has insider information about UFOs. Maybe it’s entrapment for breaking gambling laws. Maybe a journalist is writing a story about how evil rationalists exploit innocent people with fringe beliefs for money.
The scam probability doesn’t have to be large for it to dwarf the apparent benefits.