There are other financial scams aside from pyramid and ponzi which I discussed in my previous notes. There’s the romance scam where one gets into a relationship with someone who pretends to be in love with the victim and will ask for money. There’s the pig butchering scam where one get hooked into sending money many times to someone who offers a huge return on investment or threatens the victim.
All of these scams have something in common, a promise, that will never happen. This promise is designed to trigger the potential victim’s emotional response which will result into them giving their money to the scammer. So always check your emotion and make sure you and your family are not falling for something that will cause you to lose your money. Pay attention to the senior members of your family since a lot of scammers target them.
If you or anyone you care about is being offered a deal that sounds too good to be true then assume it is and don’t take the bait. If it turned out to be true then don’t feel bad about it because the risk that came with it was very high since the reward was high. The problem with making money from high risk stakes is that you are basically gambling and once you experienced a win then you are likely to do it again and eventually you will lose your money.
Information is your defense against scams and the more you know how they operate the better you can avoid them. Inform your family how these scams work and tell them to always let you know if they are being offered any “investment” by anyone so there will be no surprises.