[gnicholas]

As a skeptic, this thought crossed my mind as well. But if you were trying to make your business look more sympathetic, the initial ask would be for more money. No one would fault you for not sending $2,000, whereas some might say $75 is like a small donation.

[quadrifoliate]

Eh, they have a sob story about potentially being exploited again all ready.

Plus, $75 in some sense is more shocking than $2,000 – you can perhaps visualize paying $75 to get rid of some negative reviews, and that combined with the lurid "this is three weeks income for poor people" catches your imagination.

I am on board with the parent comment, this sounds like a publicity stunt.

[gnicholas]

If it starts happening to a bunch of companies whose founders frequent HN, we'll know it's a contagious publicity stunt!