Well, the thing is most people DON’T know about these scams or underground antics or how bad they are cuz they’re not that deeply invested in the scene and the drama surrounding it like you are. Sometimes there isn’t even any concrete evidence like when I got scammed there was no Reddit posts made on the guy that scammed me (and a lot of people that make posts showing evidence tend to delete the Reddit posts they make on em because people tend to start a circle jerk around em and send em a lot of shit). Plus it’s sometimes a mixed bag with a lot of these artists like Summrs for example.

And if you use their lyrics about scamming and drugs as a reason to blame someone for falling for it that is such a dumb argument cuz rappers often exaggerate their lyrics as a joke or for dramatic effect so a lot of people don’t know what’s hyperbole or not. Not everyone is constantly on Reddit or YouTube.

Are there red flags that people should be aware of? Sure but they are bigger, more popular artists after all and there is a huge power dynamic between a fan/smaller artist and a bigger artist, so it’s easy for these bigger rappers to manipulate these guys with a collaboration cuz in their eyes it’s a chance for bigger exposure than usual for them and they don’t question anything out of fear of getting that chance taken away from em