Exactly and that is my fear and nothing more. Frankly speaking to pay the money nis not an issue, if I pay the money then they frame another story that they can't refund the money because they don't know where the funds are or other cooked up stories then I became a loser with double transactions. So the payment before refund is not nice one. I really doubt if it is real.
Never pay any fees upfront without a clear understanding of what service you're receiving and the terms involved. While the processing fee might seem unusual, it's not entirely unheard of. However, you should only proceed once you're confident about the legitimacy of the request. If everything checks out and you decide to proceed with the payment, ensure that you’re sending the processing fee to an official Kucoin address and not to any third-party or suspicious address.