2. An operation can be state-sponsored and still amateurish/botched. We have seen plenty of examples of these. Remember a certain bone saw?
3. The incentive can be a lot more than financial. Plenty of governments are very…persuasive.
I assume that it is the current go-to way to operate for many spy agencies. Hire intermediaries. Who are then tasked to hire further intermediaries. Who then do the dirty work. Without a clue of where the actual order comes from.
Such a mode of operation has lower efficiency of course. But it can be done at scale. Which then offsets the losses caused by inefficiency.
I would not be surprised if there are multiple such attempts to spy on businesses all around the place occurring right now. And the person from the article is just one of the unlucky guys that got caught.
This mode of operation is likely also used, in my opinion, in the current hybrid war attacks by the Russian GRU, mainly in the Ukraine and in Europe at large.
Not sure why OP would call it amateurish/botched.