Lesson 1 of 2 · 7 min read
The five patterns
Almost every scam is a variation on something that worked a hundred years ago too.
Guaranteed returns
If someone promises a fixed percentage with no risk, and that percentage sits above what a government bond pays, it doesn't add up. Not because the person is lying about their intentions, but because such a promise cannot mathematically exist. Anyone certain of making 15 percent a year doesn't need your money: they'd borrow from a bank at 5 and keep the difference.
New money pays old money
In a pyramid the returns of the first investors are paid with the deposits of the next. As long as new people keep arriving everything checks out and the early ones get paid, which is what makes it credible. The moment the inflow stops, it collapses all at once. The tell: the emphasis is on recruiting new people rather than on where the return comes from. Always ask who the counterparty earning the money is. If there's no answer, it's you.
Time pressure
Every scam runs a clock: the offer expires, three places left, the price goes up tomorrow. That isn't there to give you a chance but to stop you thinking or asking anyone. A genuinely good investment is still good next week. The hurry is the evidence, not the opportunity.
Stocky says
Say the rule out loud to yourself: under time pressure I wait 24 hours. Almost everything you lose that way was a trap anyway.
Remember this
- Guaranteed high returns with no risk don't exist, not even in small amounts.
- If the emphasis is on recruiting, you're paying the previous person's return.
- Time pressure exists to block thinking. Wait 24 hours.
There is a quiz for this lesson
3 questions that check whether it stuck. They live in the app, because a quiz nobody grades teaches nothing.
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