if investors are dumping money into HYIPs on tons of open forums which are basically illegal ponzi schemes offering 125% return this is really no different. problem is authorities will be able to track this kind of fraud, he will be on security cameras and his pics handed out to every store security employee in the entire chain
I assume he has done his own due diligence on what his personal risks are and is willing to take them. People steal stuff from retail estalishments all the time in a variety of ways, some get caught, some don't. Maybe investors get their money, maybe they don't. Maybe he gets caught, maybe he doesn't. Still, it is interesting - even from a purely academic perspective - in terms of what kinds of transactions this currency might make more accessible.
and yes, there are illegal gambling opportunities as well as HYIPs as well as 50 other things being offered to people all over the forums. You can't just run a lottery or an unregulated casino offering a blackjack game you just coded last night.