“We were being spammed relentlessly by these scam posts from compromised or purchased [Discord] accounts,” Thereallo said. “I got frustrated with just banning and deleting, so I started to investigate the infrastructure behind the scam messages. This is not a one-off site, it’s a scalable criminal enterprise with a clear playbook, technical fingerprints, and financial infrastructure.”

This quote does not read like something I'd expect from a 17 year old.

17 year olds come in many flavors.

possibly, or possibly someone brushing up the original quote on the 17 year old's behalf.