As you all are probably aware I am relatively new to the steemit community. One of the things I find very cool is the existence of whales and witnesses(?). You guys know what I mean. I'm talking about making an investment, optimizing, helping each other out and squeezing all the juice out of anything we post. So anyway, I have used some trustworthy whale services and they all held true to their promise.
Now, where everything probably went wrong is when I clicked into my wallet and saw a private message from optimisticguy. He sent a message and I quote, "You Can Triple Your Money on Steemit. We will Up-Vote your posts for you. Send us $1 Steem Dollar our group will Up-Vote your post by $3.00 in return. So you triple your money. If you send us $2 SBD we will Up-Vote your posts by $6.00. Send $10 SBD and you get $30.00 in Up-Votes. Double Down! Send us $50 SBD and you get $300.00 in Up-Votes and for $100 SBD you get $750 in Up-Votes. We are a group of 250 loyal Steemians, we believe you should be paid more for your work on Steemit. Now you can get paid for your efforts. To receive our Up-Votes send $1 Steem Dollar to our group leader 
Now let me correct myself...everything went wrong when I actually engaged with this message. First of all he said you 'can' triple your money. Secondly, how are "they" all together calculating the upvotes to give you a particular amount? I say "they" because as you can see this person is claiming they are a group of 250 loyal Steemians(awwwww). Now, think about how much coordination that would require to actually pull off. Also, the cherry on top...Your Satisfaction is Guaranteed...I mean come on. Anytime someone guarantees you anything off an investment red flags should go up.
How did I fall for this? Because I did not follow my own rules, lack of knowledge and being overly optimistic.
I could be wrong but I doubt there are 250 people coordinating upvotes with each other. Well, I guess you live and learn and I am a lot older than I was yesterday...relatively speaking...on steemit. If any of you have had a similar experience I'd like to hear about it or if you think I'm wrong and I spoke too soon I'd appreciate your two cents as well.