It wasn't entirely clear until I witnessed a series of the same events unfold in almost a similar way. Initially, it wasn't a " once struck twice shy" for me because it wasn't happening directly to me. I had people around me who had been affected and I am sure that I would have been one of them if I had proper financial standings.
Every time I think about it, I would conclude that it's never any of those people's fault. Why? That's because every day we are bombarded by the media asking us to make our money work for us. And one of the ways that they recommended had been investing in businesses. Probably buying shares, or being a lender who gets his interest monthly and later on his entire money at the end of the agreement.
So, I make excuses for them by telling myself that they were just trying to follow that financial advice. What they did wrong was never doing their due diligence, and getting into the nook and cranny of those businesses they invested in. These people had no idea they were supposed to be presented with the company's financial data and balance sheets. To investigate every penny, income, expenditures, debts, assets, liabilities, etc. They were mostly concerned about how much they will be getting every month without moving a muscle. And they forgot that if something is too good to be true, then, it probably is.
Anna Delvey, the fake heiress, in the movie, Inventing Anna
The first time I became concerned and started trying to understand what a Ponzi scheme or con act looks like was when I saw the movie, Inventing Anna. Sincerely, I had to see this movie twice to finally agree Anna was a con artist. I had been so sure she was trying to build a business from the beginning till the end.
Do you know the one thing that's peculiar about Anna? It was how she wanted to go to jail instead of appearing as a joke or socialite to the public. This was insightful to me because currently, we have a female con artist that is trending on social media by the name, Ovaioza, and she is saying the same thing. I read a post today on someone's timeline that she said she rather goes to jail than pay off those folks who believed her and invested with her.
Ovaioza, the fake agricultural business woman
The amazing thing is that both ladies conned a large percentage of people under the covers of a business front. And they made it so enticing that if you had money, you wouldn't resist doing business with them.
Marksman Ijomah Chinedu, the fake businessman, popularly known as the Red King, who owned the company called, Chinmark
Now, the most shocking one of them all is another con stunt that was pulled by the CEO of Chinmark Group. Now, like me(how I didn't believe Anna was a con artist), every one of the people who had been scammed still thought he was a good man and was building businesses. Until many weeks passed, and a lot of plots twist began to reveal themselves. This was when the investors knew they had been duped. All the social media influencers knew nothing about this, and those they recommended Chinmark to had them by the throats asking for their money.
What has been the most insightful lesson I have learned from all of this? Well, it's the fact that those who run real businesses do not live flashy lifestyles on social media. Tending to a business is more time-consuming, that, the time to be flaunting on social media, and throwing money around wouldn't be there. In short, the real businessmen and women are more worried about how to get the staff paid, how to deal with competition, and never give big percentages as return on investment.
Ovaioza, Chinmark, and the rest of the folks were busy flaunting the money investors gave them, giving away a large portion, becoming early philanthropists, etc. Even Anna lived her life flaunting money she didn't have much of, desperately waiting for the bank to approve her business loan. All of them lived to impress the public, and real businesses don't deal in this manner. The success of the business is more important than the status quo. Business to them is like a baby and needs to be nurtured so it can produce the necessary fruits to solve the problems of humanity. Running a business has never been about using other people's money to upgrade one's personal life.
The thing about Ponzi schemes is that once Mr. A brings money, and B does, Mr. B's money is used to pay Mr. A. And when Mr. c brings his money, it's paid to Mr. B, and the cycle continues. But the moment money isn't coming in externally, the whole dynamics crashes down. By the time, it crashes, the organizers had already had an exit plan. You may take up the case with the law, but, they might still get away with it because they are well connected.
People who are in real businesses are often afraid to step out of the line when it comes to finances because they know anything can happen. No one can predict the seasons and timing of businesses. Things go wrong, products get damaged, and unexpected expenses show up. So, every cent counts and shouldn't be abused, or spread around in a bit to gain attention, and publicity.
These days, if someone flaunts his/her business around too much (not in the marketing direction, I don't know if you understand), I begin to get skeptical about everything. There's one particular person I am keeping my fingers crossed for. He lives in South Africa, and I am hoping that I am wrong about him. After all, it's said that "money doesn't change people, it reveals them"
Ps: All images are screenshots and have been duly sourced.
And I am answering question 2 for my entry to the LOH contest. I invite 
