Well, my concern would be if they'd actually pay you if you're doing really well. And no, I'm not talking about pocket change, i.e., a few thousand dollars.
Do you know anyone who withdrew substantial money from one such firm?
There was a guy on here who was eligible for a huge payout with one FX firm and they did not pay him and he was taking legal action. I'll dig it up for you if you're interested.
Personally, I would
never do business with a firm that have a conflict of interest with me, i.e., the simulator firms. If I were to do business with a "get-funded" firm I would make sure it's one that actually puts me on a real live account such that money in my pocket is also money in their pocket.
Why do business with a firm that's eligible for a huge loss if you do really well? Would you trust that they don't rig their system in some way to make sure you lose your connection in the middle of a big trade and break a rule? Or just declare bankruptcy instead of paying you?
Well, it sure comes close to being a scam. These firms pretend they're "funding" traders with big accounts, looking for talent, etc., but like you yourself said their business model is based on the high failure rate of would-be-traders who keep buying evaluations and resets.
TopstepTrader used to call it a 150K account, but I see that in recent time they changed the wording to "150K buying power". I'm sure someone made them aware of their misleading marketing. I see that Apex for example still calls it a 150K account which is a joke as what they're offering is a 5K account (your drawdown).
Trust me. These firms don't need anyone looking out for them. They're doing very well already fleecing naive newbies.