So many defending him

I suspect this has to do with who he is friends with and who he is associated with.

Earn't accidentally: I took that payment upfront, found out it was a scam 3 days in, closed everything.

It would be "earned accidentally" however I'm still not sure that term is appropriate for what happened in your case.

In other words, he stole money from people he believed to be scammers. Now where have I heard that before?