It may not be a scam but to say it is too elaborate to be a hoax is a logical fallacy. Just because most scams are so shitty they are immediately obvious doesn't mean they all have to be. I mean by that logic Bernie Madoff was wrongly convicted. He ran an entire office, and fake trading floor, printed out years worth of fake settlements, and fake trade reports, gave fake profits, and hired staff to process and manage all the fakeness. Why make it so elaborate?
How much does it cost to put a non-functional PCB under some heat sinks and slap it in a case. If you are an out of work college grad selling 100 nonexistent boards for $500 each = $50,000. Not to bad for a couple months work. Their website didn't even exist 3 months ago, it was a website for butterflies.
Exactly. They could only be in all of $500 and some time on it. If street criminals are calling confused old people saying 'Abuela! Abuela! They have me in jail! You have to pay them so I can get out!' and fleecing them, I can only imagine that would be simple for someone of intelligence and EE competency to pull something this elaborate. Pictures don't prove anything. I will make you products all day that look good but don't work. All you need is a Maker-bot and a CNC router and you too can manufacture anything for appearances.