Apart from this scam there is one more scam, they will ask for KYC at the time of bounty distribution. I will say following precaution should be taken.
1. Take part on bounty of established member(at least Senior Member) of this forum or member with some positive trust.
2. Ask these question before joining the bounty.
3. Quote and archive the bounty announcement post as well as the response.
4. If they deviate in future with their promises then feel free to open case at Reputation board.
1. There are projects that managed bounty on their own and quite became successful in the end. It's a matter of proper choosing and minimizing the risks eventhough how reputable the manager is. But still, both doesn't have an assurance that the bounty program will have a good returns in the end.
2. Yes. Other bounties must put this disclaimer at the early phase of the campaign.
3. It will do.
4. It depends on the situation. Sometimes one of the program in the bounty doesn't performed well so it's reasonable to transfer rewards to other bounties to compensate users there. Just imagine if on signature campaign, only 5 joined, it's not reasonable to give them all the stakes as it can be transferred to other program that performed well like translations (updating) and content creation campaign etc. Just an example.