<I have always wondered how they made money with people like us here.>
They DIDN'T make money with people like us abusing the program and that is why it no longer exists. It was not initially set up to allow people like us to consistently score a better price at the expense of the American Express company; it was set up for legitimate buyers who subsequently found the same product at a lower price.
Hard as it is for many here to accept, the people running this program, and others that are regularly abused, are just as smart, or smarter, as an undergrad, and they KNOW what is going on. When the abuse gets to the point that it is costing a company more money than is made from the additional customers such a perk brings in, they kill the program without compunction. They tolerate being easy marks until the bottom line dictates otherwise, then they pull the plug.
When the scammers move to their other cards, it is just a matter of time until BVG goes down the tube there too.
I do not sit in judgement: It is a given that if a program can be abused, there are those who will do so. Human nature is as it is...
Best of luck on the next conquest, but you better be fast, because it won't last long.