I disagree that it is a scam by BQT or IOU. There are other projects that were affected by the same bounty manager that are far longer overdue but nobody is accusing them of scamming.
Definition of a scam is a dishonest scheme or fraud. There is no proof that there was any intent of dishonesty or fraud by BQT.
If I accused all my customers that were late paying my invoices of being scammers it is likely that I wouldn't be in business for long.
While I believe it is up to BQT to sort out - which they are doing. I am sympathetic towards the reason for the delay - which I believe is not their fault.
Can we say that this thread is only reason why they start to fix this situation, and in case that no one is asks questions, bounty participants would not be paid? I am fairly convinced that this would be the case, just because this is a common situation when it comes to bounties. So proof for possible scam is in that BQT&IOU ignored this problem, and when you say "I believe is not their fault.", who do you blame for all these months of delay?
My personal interest in this is that participants get pay, just because I promote BQT&IOU in signature campaign, and it is not good feeling to know some people may get scammed in this project.