Companies have assets and cashflows which could be given to shareholders in a liquidation. What you're describing is more like what's called a "binary option" which is actually quite similar to a lot of crypto projects.
Yes. Some of the same scammers are behind both.[1]
[1] https://www.timesofisrael.com/german-police-raid-call-center...
That would be like a worst case scenario though, right? Which would in turn make those shares worth a lot less to begin with.