Did they share any receipts or official documents to back up their claims?
They have a really good racket going on and want to make sure people keep giving them way more money than is necessary. It's simply not true that Infosec.Exchange requires $5000/month to operate unless they're doing something very wrong or just straight up lying.
Money brings out the worst in people. Don't let the useful idiots bring you down because there are more of them.