It's too good to be true and involves paying BTC to a stranger. Do you really need someone else's gut here?

Just don't. Buy for ~2.5 BTC from Bitmain if you must or just HODL.
Paying to a stranger will be no problem here as I wouldn't pay anything before seeing the miners.
Do you really think it's too good to be true?
I've been reading all S9 threads and they don't seem very reliable. That's my main fear.
I'm less inclined to follow with this deal but not for being too good to be true.