Users got refunded, because Whirlwind expected such incidents to occur. And even if they didn't, scammers don't leave $40k as escrow, in case shit hits the fan.
Considering how much money goes through mixers, $40k was a drop in the bucket. When you look at scam accusations made against mixers, it is usually whale amounts worth multiple BTC that get stolen. The price of Bitcoin has appreciated significantly so the $14k DAI remaining in the fund probably won’t be nearly enough to cover the losses from somebody making a late claim.
Giving users a false sense of trust with the escrow was a nice tactic to lure in potential victims. From the looks of it, they actually succeeded. The address used to pool deposits grew from 3 BTC to over 13 BTC. Doing some rough math, they spent less than 3 BTC in their signature campaign. They would’ve made ~7 BTC in profit from their scam but it might be greater if they were withdrawing smaller amounts from the pool before they rugpulled.
You could accept a refund anonymously.
This still exposes your deposit address in the letter of guarantee. The campaign manager could potentially figure out if your deposited funds were involved in illegal activity and tell law enforcement to track the refund address.
It feels awful when you promote a service which is turned down by the government, but it is even more awful if that service turns out to be a scam. However, I think I had made that post under the impression they took the users' money and left, whereas I later realized that the campaign manager could cover potential losses, which is something that never happens on an exit scam.
Has any Wasabi shill read the discussion made after that post of mine, or are you just trying to make me look bad deliberately?
Your initial impression was correct. They walked off with hundreds of thousands of dollars. You made yourself look bad with your complicity.