that's a lot of overhead and effort for a scam. It would be easier to just to have a normal job such as being a software developer.
Sure it is, but there's a whole world outside of the US, where jobs aren't as easy to find, nor as well paying as software developer job in the US.
It wouldn't surprise me if scammers package their strategy/toolsuite and resell the mechanism to other scammers. Ticket brokers bot networks do this.