It's a refinement of the age old religious pattern of doing charity work with ulterior motives. Build a well and a church. Provide food after a sermon.

That's a ... stretch. One is making people pay for your service with a bit of their attention, and the other is intentionally targeting your malicious message at people you know are mentally unwell.

Hmm. I was speaking mostly in a historical context but I didn't make that clear. I don't think most churches do this today, and the Scientologists are peculiar in that way, but it was a distinct problem for a very long time, until social anthropologists and friends started calling attention to that sort of behavior.