You can commit fraud using Patreon. Now quit derailing.
And stop thinking you're doing yourselves any favors by trying to handwave away a community getting scammed out of more than 10k.
You say I don't understand how fraud rulings work, but offer zero arguments or examples to back up your opinion, you just yell "fraud" and don't address any of what I said.
You say that one can commit fraud using Patreon - I never said you couldn't. You can technically commit fraud via Patreon, or Twitch, or YouTube, by e-mail or by interacting with people on the street. But for that you actually have to, you know, defraud people. That could be the case if you promised to give them something specific in exchange for a payment. Like I previously said, all that the developer promised as part of the transaction was access to alpha builds and polls.
You say the "community" got scammed. Where is this scammed community of patrons you represent? How many people who paid the developer have you actually confirmed even feel scammed? It seems to me you're just putting words in other people's mouths. It seems that you merely think other people made bad financial decisions by supporting the developer, and that gives you the ability to speak on their behalf to claim they've been scammed.
And sure, there may even be a few patrons who feel scammed. But even if there are, I think they represent a negligible share of the overall sum. After all, if you pay someone money who does not promise you anything in return, and cry foul when you, surprise surprise, don't get anything in return, and still keep paying month after month, you're just an idiot. If you have kept paying every month for years, you're either fine with it or you are a moron.
I'm not sure what you're on about with "favors". I'm not here to do any favors to anyone, not to myself and definitely not to anyone else. It's just that time of the day for me when I feel like clowning on people who feel personally wronged whenever other people spend money in ways you don't approve of.