[protomyth]

It doesn't strike me as unusual. I've paid for tools and training for relatives and friends. A membership seems no more unusual.

[edit: given the down votes, I guess the HN crowd has rich friends or doesn't do mentoring. Sometimes the people you sponsor don't get it right]

[luke_s]

Not sure why people are downvoting - they should be commenting if they disagree!

A developer account + some old test devices sounds like a great birthday or christmas present!

[logicallee]

You write "for relatives and friends", implying a measure of trust. You don't write "for strangers I didn't know." Would you have?

[protomyth]

From his response "helped a relative get started by paying for her Apple’s Developer Program Membership using my credit card. I also handed her test hard"

It was a relative, so I don't get your question's relevance to the situation.

[logicallee]

sorry, I missed that part. I straight-up don't believe that their relative engaged in fraudulent activity related to Dash (such as leaving negative reviews of competitors) by complete coincidence and at arm's length. I didn't read all the information carefully though.

[protomyth]

> I straight-up don't believe that their relative engaged in fraudulent activity related to Dash (such as leaving negative reviews of competitors) by complete coincidence and at arm's length

You might want to read the rest, the relative was boosting their own apps. Dash was not part of scenario just affected by the end result.