The way zaps works is when you send a lightning payment to the server there is a nostr bot account on that server that publishes a zap receipt event that says how much was zapped. Nothing is stopping that server from saying there was a zap that actually didn’t happen or lying about the amount.
Discussion
It says this in the NIP “The zap receipt MAY contain a preimage tag to match against the payment hash of the bolt11 invoice. This isn't really a payment proof, there is no real way to prove that the invoice is real or has been paid. You are trusting the author of the zap receipt for the legitimacy of the payment.
The zap receipt is not a proof of payment, all it proves is that some nostr user fetched an invoice. The existence of the zap receipt implies the invoice as paid, but it could be a lie given a rogue implementation.”
Thanks for helping spread awareness and understanding about ZAP limitations.
I think zaps are great. However they are oversold/understood as being trusted and trustable - and accurate. They simply are not in their current form today.
It’s not proof of work or anything similar. I wish it was..