What made #Comicsgate a successful scam: 1. Vague enemy that can't objectively be debunked. "Comic shops are closing! It's likely for a number of reasons and there's no way to ID the leading cause, but we can assert it's because of SJW politics because nobody can prove it's not."
2. Harnessing existing anger. People are dumb animals, we act when we feel scared, threatened or angry. There's already a large faction of angry right wingers online, it was just a matter of assembling them and convincing them that "SJWs" are what they're really angry at.
3. Call to heroism. "Comics are dying and SJWs are to blame, but you can save them and send a message to the big two by giving me $35!" Nevermind that giving $ to a guy on IGG does nothing to help your LCS and money raised via political posturing is meaningless data to Marvel/DC.