If it is a con, it is the longest long con you could ever invent.

1) Work hard, become a chief of anti-abuse team at Google.

2) Work harder, publish several papers ranging from self published papers about hacking Heartstone to multi-author papers at conferences like WWW.

3) Create a scam device, describe it in detail.

4) Go present it with you own face and name to the DEFCON.

5) Write a blogpost about the said non-existent device.

Rake in the 2000 USD (which is reeeeally big fat reward for all your effort, risk and credibility) wired to a stranger in China who isn't even identified in the blog... You win a prize.