[lowercased]

> the author cops to being an accomplice to wire fraud

Can you not determine who the author is? Based on clues like the author's name in the article heading, and the comment poster's name being different? And the author posting a reply to the circled comment you posted indicating that this approach does happen, but is sketchy... seems to point to a reading comprehension problem here.

[akanet]

You're being rude, but to answer your question directly: the author responded to the circled comment with an underlined statement admitting to have knowingly engaged in these services for use by his employer.

[lowercased]

slightly, yes (rude).

Offering 2 things (access to one service, then a second service as 'free') does not strike me as automatically 'wire fraud'; we'd need more information to make that determination.