Premise: This is not financial advice; it’s just a reflection from someone who’s seen more than one “brilliant model” deflate at the first serious check.

How many times have you witnessed the explosion of “innovative” investment schemes:

• Extraordinary returns;

• Vertically growing revenues;

• Pre-money valuations in the six-digit range.

All seasoned with irresistible buzzwords: artificial intelligence, blockchain, tokenization, metaverse (which always looks good).

SPOILER in short-cut style: Stay away from them. End of spoiler. You can continue reading.

The Business Plan Can Be a Trap

We know the Ponzi scheme: old investors are paid with the money of new ones. As long as new money keeps coming in, everything holds up. When it stops or when people want to exit… the house of cards falls. Today, version 2.0 has evolved and is often disguised as a startup or innovative SME:

• Exaggerated projections;

• Promised exits at every round;

• “Investors coming soon” (who never show up);

• Urgency in decision-making (“we close by Friday”).

The result? Psychological pressure → money deposited → system that sustains itself… as long as it lasts.

Some Red Flags Not to Ignore

(Again, not financial advice — just common sense)

🔺 No investment can guarantee constant and disproportionate returns.

🔺 If something seems too good to be true… it probably isn’t.

🔺 If they rush you to make a decision, stop and ask yourself: why?

🔺 No one gives away anything — except maybe grandma at Christmas.

🔺 “Fully paid-up capital” doesn’t mean there’s real money in the bank.

“But you can understand everything from the balance sheet…”

No, you can’t. There are structures designed specifically to:

• Encapsulate profits among sister companies;

• Use intercompany invoices to create artificial numbers;

• Mask flows with operations that are technically legal.

In a word: creative accounting fraud. The problem? It’s hard to read if you don’t know what to look for. And often, those investing don’t know.

The Bitter Moral of the Story

Every scheme, no matter how techy or polished, will end sooner or later. And sometimes the real deal is not doing the deal.

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