This has "Scam" written all over it. Scammers will hide behind the idea that "Hey it's PayPal, you can always charge back", except for the fact that the scammer will still get the money loaded on a VCC and withdrawn by the time you get around to even filing a dispute.
You are 99.99% right, I just don't get them scamming for $100 or less, all the trouble of opening acounts, verifying, VCC...some people are just desperate