From the airlines viewpoint, it is a rather smart idea though. There is a largish pool of freshly trained CPL holders that mostly has no chance of landing a paid job - not due to a lack of ability on the CPL holders part, but due to a lack of vacant seats at the airlines. The reasons for this have been elaborated here again and again, so I will not go there now.
The CPL holders however see this situation after having forked out a substantial amount of money and realize their predicament with a bit of well-founded dismay. And now along comes an airline CEO on his constant quest to lower his operational costs and sees these pour souls. Does pity strike his heart? No, he sees his quest fulfilled. He offers the CPL holders a ray of hope - hurry, hurry, hurry, sign here, pay only some 10.000 units of whatever currency, get a rating and some hours. And thus he sells a TR, often at an agreeable profit, can keep an aircraft flying without paying a First Officer for several hours and has not only lowered his costs but even made a profit before having sold one single ticket.
And after both have fulfilled their contract - one has provided a TR and some hours of line training, the other one has paid another substantial amount - lo and behold, the pool of 200 hour CPL holders is still as full as before, so will the CEO keep his freshly trained TR holder and start to pay him a salary, or will he choose the cheaper option of letting him go and getting another fresh, but solvent, candidate to sell another TR?
So away goes the candidate, now with a TR and some more hours - only to find himself in the next pool of jobless candidates with equal qualifications to his and the amount of paid jobs offered still the same.
Gentlemen, avoid the above scenario and do not buy a TR without a job contract signed at the same time.