The video length was pretty limiting, though. Instagram at the time started doing 15 second videos. The six seconds lent itself to goofy comedy and not much more.
It seems like they should have sold it. Or just jammed in a bunch of ads... maybe an option to remove ads with a paid membership. Simply killing it doesn't make any money other than to avoid losing more, and they'd already invested a fair bit which you can't recoup by just closing something. Of course, Google does that all the time I guess.
It definitely sounds like a 'pig butchering' scam. They find someone lonely, give them a sob story, proclaim a special bond, talk to them for months, then start asking for money or pumping an investment scheme. Most likely, he would never come to your country, but rather will start saying "i need <thousands of dollars> to travel there..."