I think you people need a dictionary:
scam
1: to deceive and defraud (someone)
defraud:
to take something illegally from a person, company, etc., or to prevent someone from having something that is legally theirs, by making statements that are not true
You are redefining the word, which is fine, but it's not the established meaning of the word. I'd argue that you are also redefining words like "invest" but I feel like going into that is just going to be doing the same thing I am here. I'd suggest you try reading a dictionary some time if you want to communicate using the established definitions of words. If you want to make up your own, feel free; you are just going to make people confused and talk past people.
Maybe you, should actually read beyond the dictionary and read into actual legal practice. While law and its practice is varies widely between different countries, the main point for most of the time is as simple "a benefit of a conman at expense of their victim".
In best case scenario, we should actually quote the legal documents instead of dictionaries. But again, because you started with such a highly regarded legal source, lets continue with dictionaries.
Fascinating how you accuse us that we need to read a dictionary meanwhile if i actually read dictionary there is way more definitions of de/fraud.
"To deprive of right, either by procuring something by deception or artifice, or by appropriating something wrongfully through breach of trust, or by withholding from another by indirection or device that which he has a right to claim or obtain; cheat; cozen: followed by of before the thing taken."
Notice how in my definition found on wordnik, it doesn't mention anything about illegality. It says wrongfully, doesn't mean immediately actually illegal. Have you did the most basic monicker of research? Or have you on purpose choose the definition which fit your narrative?
This is why, a lot of cons and scams, are operating in the technically legal area. I feel like a broken record at this point. That what seperate them from a simple, robber or thief. Thief takes from you without your consent. Scammer takes from you with one. And many layers of "well akshually it is technically legal" is the tactics of the scammer.
For example selling shitty overpriced trash, for 1000s% of markup. From surface glance wouldn't say it is fraud or scam in any way, because how is this exchange of goods and money is any different from you buying goods from the store? But if you look deeper it is clearly a scam, which often can continue to operate because they operate inside legal limits, it is a scam touting the law exactly at the tipping edge.
Hell a lot of modern ponzi schemes, drops the charade of the "deception" and declare straightforward that they are indeed a form of a ponzi scheme. So those ponzi schemes are not defrauding people because they don't make statements that are not true?
The scam calling, selling you overpriced reinstalls of free antiviruses, is another one, good one is not technically lying, they just taking exuberant amount of money to install a free software to your PC as a fee of service. Preying on gullible and uneducated.
And yes, perpetually funding some kind of product you are developing through donations, can be qualified as a scam. In my city we had a monorail development firm promising, and promising but operating on "willing just donations". It took 15+ years to finnaly caught them, when their luck finally run out, and they tried to pump and dump and run. But again, through all those 15 years they always reiterated that it is "just donations" no promises, we just making more green version of monorail.
So please drop this stupid "ILLEGAL" line.