[ldoughty]

I was going to leave this alone, but it's important to point out this is not white hat..

This world still be black hat (or arguably grey hat)...

White hat would have been realizing the possible problem and informing the company without actually making the account (or, with only making the account or prove the link, but not taking money from anyone)

You could possibly argue that if the author "cheated himself" only, that's okay... E.g. paid themselves through patreon... Assuming the author eats the cost difference and doesn't refund.

The author actually defrauded unaware visitors, intentionally, he has caused harm to them, patreon (financially or good will/name), and the money transfer networks; this is at a minimum grey hat... Sure, the end user donating was made whole, but other business entities were harmed... Someone eats that transaction fee.