why are you assuming it wasa retirement visa??. And what are you talking about "chosing a random" office??? If you don't believe me I don't give a shite pal
it's a "work around" if you don't have tje 800k in a thai bank, so hardly a scam, in my book a scam = pay some money for something and receive nothing back in return. Here they are getting a visa that otherwise would be out of their reach