Wow, some story. I'm impressed with your attitude, you're right that the hassle and cost is probably not worth it.

The only thing you can do now is exactly what you're doing, warn others not to fall into this trap.
One thing you may still consider is to see if you can find a group of people who got ripped off and consolidate forces. Maybe as a group you have a better chance, the State Department is more likely to take notice then.

One question which baffles me though, why would you want a second passport, especially from a country like paraguay?

I upvoted, maybe this gives you a cent back of the 30k you lost ;-)