Op could be the scammer, sending money to himself; which is one of the options you've mentioned already.
and giving small loans to basically buy trust. or trying to get collateral sent to him first, most "no collateral" loan threads are BS as they always ask for collateral, usually your bitcointalk account if the activity is high enough or you have enough positive trust. could be gathering a bunch of accounts this way that will be used to scam. it would be worth keeping an eye on that account
