A close friend of mine, Sarah, was always looking for smart ways to invest. She was approached by an acquaintance who invited her to a “special trading group” where they claimed to have exclusive strategies for earning massive profits through cryptocurrency. The group had hundreds of members, many of whom shared screenshots of their supposed earnings. Sarah was excited and decided to invest $5,000. She even convinced some of her family members to invest as well.

For the first few months, Sarah saw impressive returns, and she even managed to withdraw some money. This built trust, and she reinvested her earnings along with additional funds. However, one day, without warning, the trading platform shut down, and the group chats were deleted. The so-called investment leaders vanished, and no one could access their funds. It turned out to be a classic Ponzi scheme—early investors were paid with the money from newer investors until the scammers ran away with everything.

Sarah was devastated, not just because of her financial loss but also because she had unknowingly encouraged others to invest. This experience taught her an invaluable lesson: always verify the legitimacy of investment opportunities and never invest money you can’t afford to lose.