I just heard about the Bellyrub scam/scandal that happened a few days ago.
That's a bummer for all involved (except zeartul, it seems, who presumably made some money).
Having said that, I stopped reading through multiple steemit article conversation threads after I saw "He promised me 45% annual return on my investment."
At which point, while it's a bummer, I stopped feeling bad for the people that lost money on this obvious scam.
Can people make way more than 45% in the crypto world? Absolutely.
Should you trust somebody promising you that? Hell no.
One brave steemian gave bellyrub approx 6,500 steem!
Maybe there's some good steemit math that shows giving money to a vote seller would/should give them enough of a return to give you a 45% return, but I haven't seen it.
Maybe if the payout wasn't going to happen for a year (I'll give you 45% in 12 months), as they have more time to earn in steemit transactions to accumulate your payout. But even then, you're giving up your money for 12 months on a trust agreement..."I trust you'll pay me back in 12 months,", and you have to first see the path for the vote seller to make enough to pay you back plus interest.
A likely scenario was ponzi scheme, where those 45%'s were being paid by future investors' investments.
Giving bellyrub money wasn't a wise financial move. Kudos to 