What about a scenario where a project after requesting for such payment from participants actually airdropped but to just about 15% of their participants out of a 100% that made that TON payment task. Can that still be regarded as some form of scam? since the notion has been that most of these airdrops that request some fee to be paid don't usually fulfill their promise.
It depends on the end result. To me the definition of scam is promising something that will never be fulfilled.
Promising to give a client their product but never actually sending it after the payment was done = Scam. Promising an investment will double then taking the money to run away = Scam.
Of course the team probably didn’t announce right off the bat that only 15% will be given. Some projects really do give out the rest even though it takes some time but usually if this happens, it might point to being a scam.
So it all depends on the final result, it is a proof that can be said to take quite a long time and in my opinion if anyone is in doubt, they should avoid such transactions that can be said to be suspicious to avoid unwanted things if the final result is bad. once again the decision comes back to each person's beliefs, airdrops should still be free