You're probably not going to tell me more about these tools, although I would be very curious to learn how they work.

All I have is anecdotal evidence- I know several people who are making their living spamming Craigslist and outsourcing their ReCaptcha solving. Since they can make $XX per post, paying pennies for captcha is a tiny expense. I don't condone this behavior, but be aware- it happens more than you think.

Anyway, probably best to take the discussion to email if you want more...perspective from the other side.