It sounds like the scammers did a lot of work, succeeded in their deception, but still didn't end up turning a profit. What was their plan here?
And no, it wasn't particularily interesting since I am incapable of falling for optical illusions.
It explained the concept of attention blindness. If you look for something else, then you may miss the gorilla in the room, even though it is as obvious as can be. Same goes for job offers. You're primarily looking to get the great job, and involuntarily and unknowingly enter a kind of tunnel vision.
Since everyone seems to beat the same horse, I feel like I have to declare that of course, everyone can make a slip up, nobody is free of failure, we are all human. This is so obvious that I feel stupid stating it.
But we're talking about a journalist. The protagonists of a story do have an influence on its perception.