Originally Posted by Agent 
Ohhh, Piracy
is hard work
To pull a scam like this off can take years of planning and dedication. Even if the original idea wasn't to rip people off, gaining that trust would have taken a long time.
Personally there are very few people I give any ISK to, all of which I know in real life.
For a scam this size, yes the hard work is there, but for those players that will run around in small pirate groups and can flip, steal ships etc and basically just gate camping waiting for the right ship to come along.