Bitcoin Forum

Whenever someone come asking me about Bitcoin I sometimes look at them as another victim to scammer, at least before they learn, and that's even if they choose to stay after they get scammed, such category of people only know how to quit, I think this way because people only what to hear the good side of investment and not the bad and risky side.

Something happened to someone who is not very close, I remember he came to me asking me about Bitcoin and how to get involved, I remember it was a bad timing for me and I told him to go online and do his own research.

Now he is a victim to a WhatsApp group that opened a exchange and told him to invest through them, I never knew he had up to $3000 for investment, he never sound like someone who is ready to invest a lot and secondly I thought he was a time waster, now he can't withdraw his Bitcoin from the fake exchange.

I am thinking that leaving behind and not teaching people can make them a prey to scammers, if I have just thought him the right things about Bitcoin he might have not get scammed.

No matter how much you tell others to do their research about Bitcoin some are not very good at it, call it illiteracy or other but it is what it is, should we start turning those who are not so good with finding answers away? Is that a right thing to do? I don't even know why I am feeling bad for this person, I could have saved him though.

It’s not really bas teaching someone that approaches you voluntarily about Bitcoin because you can basic knowledge on how to use and acquire it safely. But also we should remember that we are not responsible to every person so we should stop feeling guilty for not teaching them especially if you knew to yourself that person is a natural high risk.

I have a co-worker like this that keep asking me about Bitcoin but his main intention is just for quick profit and not the technology since he always joined on ponzi scheme in facebook. I tell him that Bitcoin is not a ponzi scheme that will give quick rich and then he stop having an interest. I tend to discourage someone that I knew the purpose is not by investing but rather by having a ponzi mindset which is just a big concern later on.

If someone ask you because trusting me, I don't consider the person is a victim to scammer. I would like to listen to him/ her about reasons why he or she needs me and my advice. If it is to enlighten something is unclear after own research, it is a good step to learn more.

Do own research before invest is very important. It is a first step to start and rely on anyone, any group for my money is not what I will do.

It is like a Ponzi scheme.

Even not Ponzi scheme, there are something bad like Trading, Signal groups which only play pump and dump games. Group members give group owners chance to get rich but many members will lose money. Because if they join a pump and dump game at later phase, they can not avoid loss by buying at top and selling at bottom.

the issue is that some people dont want mentors. they dont want to learn. they just want a fast track acknowledgement

i personally spoke to lots of people, told them all the ins and outs, all the risks. all the scams.. and they still ended up throwing money into scams that offer 10x yield per month

even if you say how self custody bitcoin is safe. but watch out for services. the idiots will still throw suitcases of cash at strangers saying "but X said its safe"

sometimes you cant teach the dumb. greed overrides their logic.
you can literally tell someone they are buying into some MLM pyramid and they will reply "it cant be a MLM pyramid because the world is flat" due to them seeing some fluffy utopian promotion offering huge returns at little cost. their greed destroys their logic, and they become a victim of their own greed.

The title makes it sound like it is supposed to be our fault if other folks do not bother to do their own research.
Bullshit. Their mistakes are theirs alone.

Now if someone asks you about BTC then ja, one should do their best to explain it. Thing is - they have to ask - if they don't then it is not our fault if/when they get screwed.

An interesting observation. Very subtle point.

Everyone wants to believe in a fairy tale and easy success. Like a lottery or a jackpot in a casino. In the same way, most people perceive bitcoin - as an opportunity to make easy and relaxed money, so that with the click of two fingers they can become millionaires. Once you learn the dark, risky side of the bitcoin, all that magic of naivety evaporates.

Most people are too lazy to do their own research and everyone wants ready-made answers, solutions that will lead them to wealth. It would seem that everyone has the Internet and all you need to do is take the first step towards learning. But no.

Such is the fate of those who seek easy and spontaneous enrichment. This is the price to pay for not wanting to do your own research / study. It was his choice, which means the consequences are also his destiny.

Scammers will always find victims. You can't save everyone. It has nothing to do with you.

Nothing can be fixed and your regret can't change anything.

If he asked you for help, and you refused him, then yes, there is a drop of your guilt. Why regret now what has already happened? Likewise, I'm always surprised by the very smart advice from users who create threads on how to protect themselves from scammers, but essentially tell newbies to do their research. How can beginners, without knowing anything, determine where is black and where is white?
“Do your research” is equivalent to the answer, take all risks upon yourself. However, people who own large sums of money should not be so childish as to easily trust their funds anywhere. I always start discussing investments in Bitcoin from the worst side so that people are not fascinated by fairy tales of quick profits. This way, at least he will study the pitfalls that he is likely to fall into and make decisions on how to avoid trouble.

Not everyone that comes to seek a guide about Bitcoin is a victim of a scam; some of them want to start the right way, which is why they ask questions on where and how to start going about it.

Not everyone knows how to teach others, while some people are naturally good teachers and know how to explain things in the best way to convince the listener. But when it comes to Bitcoin, you cannot force yourself to teach people that are not willing to learn; some people prefer to go to the internet and get everything themselves, and most of them get the wrong guidance online, which can be the reason this person you are making reference to falls victim to a fake WhatsApp exchange.

To me, anyone that comes to me seeking a guide about Bitcoin, I will guide them in the right way. I can't tell them to go and do their own research without telling them the basic things they need to know and the risks involved in Bitcoin investment. After teaching them the basics and the right way to get good and proper information about Bitcoin like this forum and learnmeabitcoin.com (http://learnmeabitcoin.com), I will be free. If they go ahead and fall victim because of greed, that's their business and not mine, and I should not be responsible for that.

Having basic knowledge about Bitcoin or being thought about Bitcoin investment isn't a guarantee of being completely safe from scammers. These scammer are smarter than you think and they have so many methods and techniques they employ every single day to make their lies sound and look real to you. These scammers do their own research and update their schemes every now and then, so even as a Bitcoin inclined person or one who already has knowledge of Bitcoin, you can still be victimized by those hoodlums if you're not careful.

Bitcoin knowledge is way more vast than you could ever imagine, it would take a lifetime to know everything about Bitcoin because learning never stops, where your knowledge of Bitcoin ends is where another's begin. I have a friend who has been in the Crypto business for years, he knew so much about Bitcoin and also have few investments too, but in all his knowledge, he never knew there was something call a WATCH-ONLY-WALLET yeah I know you may be asking, who doesn't know about the watch only wallets? But as ridiculous as it may sound, my friend with years of experience didn't know about it and it cost me a few thousands. He lost over $6000 to scammers who told him  they were hackers and could help him generate random Bitcoin wallets that contained an amount of Bitcoin and all the Bitcoin inside could be his for just a small fee.

I can't go into details but that was exactly how he lost over $6000 to them, he came and told me after he has already been swindled and it was at that point I explained what they did to him, so he paid $6000 for a knowledge he could have acquired for free. My point is that everyone should just be very careful out there and always remember to do a thorough research before going ahead to risk your money into something you're not sure of, especially something a stranger online introduces to you.

There is no better way to put this man!

No matter how detailed an article is, it can't be compared to you learning from someone who is already in the field. Even if a text is recommended to you as a guide containing all the information you need to get before getting started in Bitcoin, it can't be compared to you learning it from a fellow in the field of Bitcoin. And the reality is that the majority of the groups you see both on Facebook and WhatsApp is filled with loads of scammer that are looking for unsuspecting and naive individual to take advantage of, and it's very easy to get newbies that are eager to invest funds into bitcoin most especially when de already have the fund and have read or watched some clips regarding Bitcoin investment.

As long as the person is ready to learn and that you are able to teach the person, I don't see any big deal in guiding someone aright so he doesn't get into the wrong hands. And believe me, the person will always see you as a bad person whenever he remembers the money he lost because of your failure to put him through the basics of bitcoin. But it has happened and there is nothing you can do much about it.

Many people see crypto as an opportunity to massive profits due to false portrayal in the media as well as a lot of false advertising by platforms and shitcoins.

So when introducing anyone to cryptocurrenty, it's not just about helping them understand why bitcoin is the best, but also about providing some basic literacy in economics.
For example, any yields advertised on centralized platforms risk even your initial.
Anything offering yields is suspicious as if they had such stable profits they would have either remained a privately funded venture or become listed.
Also that small capitalization coins are bound to be
And such things. These really come in first than just learning about bitcoin. But frankly this is too much for most people, and going after dreams of fast wealth without having studied even the basics to be able to ask the right questions, makes them prone to scams such as shitcoins. Some might know what they're getting into, but frankly must that fall victims to rug pulls or altcoin scams cry foul later.

There is absolutely nobody that wants to hear anything negative about something they want to get into except they are against such thing from the beginning, so it is your responsibility to actually shape the narrative of those that comes to you for knowledge about it. If you see the person coming towards you to learn about bitcoin already has a narrative that it is a get rich quick scheme your first lesson should be how people have lost lots of money trying to get rich from it as scammers exploited them. This will give him a break and then you can start the teaching process of how he can protect himself with secure wallets and avoiding scam projects or phishing attacks and then tell him how bitcoin can actually generate ROI but not make you super rich. This will shape is narrative about the whole process.

OP next time you are busy and someone comes to gain knowledge about bitcoin, the best is to just ask him to create an account here or send him links of guides from here and some relevant articles rather than asking him to randomly search online.


When you stated that having basic knowledge about bitcoin doesn’t stops one from getting into falling into the hands of scammers I agree a bit because of cases like malware attacks or some phishing attack can’t be comprehend by just basic knowledge. But one thing I will always say is close to 60% scam victims were gotten Greed, your story confirms this. Had your friend not been greedy of getting a wallet with so much fund in it for little amount even with his limited knowledge he wouldn’t have fell to such scam

Listening should be an integral part of a Human being these days mostly as it concerns being ambassadors of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general.
It's about talking about the Bitcoin subject to anyone that hints on the subject somewhere during a conversation.

Some people are generally lazy to do their research because they may not know or understand what to look out for. YouTube channels should be like a hub to be visited regularly if someone like the person in the story wants more knowledge on how to invest in Bitcoin or altcoins.

On the other hand, talking or lecturing of any kind  to person these days that feign ignorance, can make the lecturer be an easy target for kidnappers, scammers, hackers and thieves.

The thing is that if anyone approaches you to teach him about bitcoin then it kinda becomes our responsibility to help him learn the basics about bitcoin and stay away from scam.
If you don't have the time right now you can tell him to contact you later so that you can discuss on the same in detail.
If he's fallen a victim to any scam then it's his fault but somewhere down the line you could have helped him avoid it.

Which is why I always go out of my way to let people know about what bitcoin and crypto is, whenever they are interested. It's not much to me, it wouldn't take a hot minute of my time anyway, but those few nuggets of knowledge that they would gain from what I tell them, would literally shield them from years of hacking and scam attacks. And I'm not one for theatrics and dramatic effects but it does make me feel good every time I know that I helped someone out there.

So to the people in this forum that already made something for themselves, I implore you to actually be a little more proactive about telling the newbies about what crypto is, or at least those that show interest in crypto. You wouldn't know how much of a help you could be by just being generous with the knowledge you share.

don't blame yourself if someone fails because you don't have any responsibility to them. what you did by telling him to find out first online and do his own research is right in my opinion, in the end he got scammed, it was his fault, that means his knowledge in crypto is still low.

and why didn't he ask you first about the group? why did he immediately act without thinking about what the impact would be in the future? from here we can see that he is not really looking for information about crypto online and his mindset is also wrong about crypto. stop blaming yourself because it is completely his fault.

Buy of BTC is not too hard for people to learn from online or through this platform like the way I learned through our local board platform because, there are many people that learned how to buy and sell BTC from this bitcointalk.org and they are good in trading their BTC in the exchange market. I guess, some of the people that fall victims to scammers are those looking for quick money from social media and, it will lead them to lose all their money to scammers like what happened to that your friend because we still have some people like that in our various places.

Even though you call that your friend that you want to teach him how to buy and sell BTC, he will not listen to you because, he will be thinking that you want to teach him wrong thing about exchange market and, it can lead him to a wrong direction.

Do your research, yes but a lot of newbies don't even know where to start their journeys let alone know areas of research focus, So they need this lecture and guidelines before they sort ways out on their own. I know how complicated some things used to be when you are getting to know something new and it is not that easy at the very beginning, So this is the situation in which most newbies find themselves starting their journey with Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, and in the course they end up in the hands of these scammers who even pretend to guide them online.
 No matter what we do there is always gonna be this newbie mistake, but proper lecturing of newbies in the space will reduce the rate of these scam victims.

I don't how busy you were but instead of telling him to do a google search you'd have referred him to the forum, maybe this would have been prevented. He was totally naive and the scammer took advantage of his naivety to scam him.

In some way, yes. If you had taught him, he'd have bought from exchange and the Bitcoin would been seating right in his wallet. He might have done his research and probably waiting for funds to invest, then he receives a PM, and he thought to himself, let me take this route, not knowing that he's going to be a scam. That's why I don't entertain unsolicited PMs from strangers on social media. $3000 is a huge amount of money and I feel bad for him.

Well I think the only fault you can accrue to yourself is the fault of not letting him know the risky aspect of it even if you will not explain the technical aspect of it. I think the first thing to tell anyone seriously or jokingly is the aspect of it that is dangerous so that, the person can take caution. If the person now go and seek for information later, he or she can be selective

It's like it's a science teacher's fault when their student tastes a soap. Teaching and commanding are different, when we teach someone, it's from knowledge we got when we are learning and gained from experience, commanding is like telling someone to do it just because you see it that way. When we tell someone something, and they do it, it's not our fault of what could  be the result, it's their decision to do so or not to.

I always tell " I'm not sure, you can try googling it" when someone asks me about crypto. I think that's the best reply to someone who asks you.

Yeah there are just way too many sophisticated scams these days. Look how much spam people get almost daily about their Coinbase account being restricted and get tricked into providing actual login credentails.

Unlike a paypal scam which can be easily reversed you can't get your crypto refunded due to fraud. Everyone should practise self custody safety and get a hardware wallet but the issue is that during most bull markets those are sold out and people rely on exchanges or keeping their crypto on their windows 10 PC which is extremely risky.

People who come to invest in the crypto market should not put the responsibility to someone to educate them and make them understand how crypto investment works. If they really want to learn, they should put their due diligence to research and study and learn from the experiences of early investors through reading legit articles online or simply or engaging in the bitcointalk forum and learn everything in there. That way, even if you start being illiterate, I know this forum will create a lot of changes in you especially in learning about the basics in the crypto investment.

However, on part of OP, you should not put the blame in your hands. Although there might be some regret wishing you had taught him, but what has happened had already happened. It should serve as a lesson to the person being scammed.

Do not feel bad about it. It is no fault of yours.
If someone asks you about bitcoin, tell them about it. If you are too busy, collect their number or email and send them resources to get them started. Do not flood them with hard to understand resources so it doesn't scare them off. At this age and time any one who  is a victim of scam, its their fault. In my local language, there is a proverb that says, you cannot lose your way if you ask questions. Sorry but your friend got scammed out of the greed in his heart. Always ask questions.

I'm not willing to tell someone about bitcoin and teach it before they get started with it first. Let someone ask questions first before you start the lecture, sometimes you also need to be quiet to observe and close the discussion with the truth.

Of course I have exceptions, especially for people I care about and they are family members. I need to tell them about bitcoin and all its advantages. The mindset in investing needs to be improved, but I will not fight against any form of scam, especially if they don't care about what I have explained. If they listen to opinions and are willing to change their attitude, then continue to the next stage.

Most people will be blinded by the profits they see and some people or investors experience changes in their fate because of Bitcoin, and this is what makes them not care, don't want to know, don't want to learn and so on. What makes them easily deceived is that they should know in advance about the risks, fraud and other negative things about Bitcoin.
And I have met several people like this after the incident, and it would be a valuable lesson for them. And it's not that they don't understand Bitcoin, it's just that they are careless or greedy which makes them easily fooled into making big profits without doing proper research.

If you send a newbie to go do their own research, it should be for self verification sake, that is to verify the information you have given to them, and also in a bid to help them adopt the culture of always verifying the information they receive from anyone by doing their own research. It will not be good to send a newbie who is clearly interested in bitcoins to go find out the information about it themselves when you are aware that there are many scammers and fake information on the internet about bitcoins. If you do not have the time for it, just try to schedule a time for it, and also caution them about taking any information they receive from another source as serious or true without verification.

May we never be victim of scams but I think sometimes unfortunate things happen that we don't see coming. I have read through how some people became a victim of malware. That virus is very dangerous in the sense that you don't even know you have it, it will be on your laptop without noticing any changes. It might even send our your private key to the scammers without you knowing what is happening in the background, untill your wallet is drained before you realize the damage has been done and this malware are very hard to detect by anti virus on your devices.

We keep learning but what is more important is having the right information at the appropriate time is the best, some of this things rarely occur, some people even get to know them after the become a victim of it despite months and years of learning about bitcoin. You can never know all but we keep learning everyday.
However, when you refuse to learn and do research, you are putting yourself on trap because even the new updates about bitcoin will be something of unknown to you. The best thing as you have said is always learn everyday.

Not to be harsh but i dont really care at all when it comes to stranger who do have that kind of dealing up with something yet its their money and i dont really like to mind others business on what they are doing. I dont like on getting blamed just because i have told them something on what they must do. The only thing that i do see for it to be relevant or something that i would really be doing is on that within my family and friends on which if ever
im aware of someone who are involved to crypto but they are just basically newbies then i might be taking up some consideration on making up some explanation about it overall. You would really be just needing the basic
principles and not on the technical side of things on which basic will really be just that enough for someone to understand and able to avoid those potential risks that they are on. Im not really having that kind of regret
if i had missed someone on telling on what are the things that needs to be done for them to avoid on losing money. Just let them be because greed what makes people do engage into those scams.
Sooner or later they would really be able to realize for themselves basing up on what they have done.

Sometimes we can be busy and cannot provide appropriate answers to people who ask us questions. If we want to direct them to get answers from something else, we have to tell them the things they will get answers from. Although it seems like everyone has an opinion on every subject, many people actually know nothing about the things they think they know. That's why we shouldn't shy away from helping people.

We need to be more careful not to cause some people to lose all their savings. Sometimes just 5 minutes can prevent someone from being deceived or defrauded.

People loose money out of greed. That's what has happened here! That fellow solely focused on getting profit instead of knowing about Bitcoin. Hackers and scammers always look for such people who has money and gets excited about profit. Probably you could have helped that person when he came around to ask for it.

I do not prefer providing unsolicited information to anyone. But if someone asks questions about things I know, I usually provide them with information. That's what we should be doing.

There are so many dangers, and not just the scammers but also hackers, physical attacks and just accidental loss; any of that can happen even to experienced users, so it's quite hard to teach some newbie how to avoid all the dangers for sure. There's a big risk that if they will get involved with Bitcoin and do lose it somehow, they will blame it all on you no matter what. This is a lose-lose situation - if you don't teach them you could have prevented some situations, but if you do and they still lose, they will blame you. So it's best to make it clear at the beginning that their coins is theirs and only theirs responsibility and that the risk is considerable.

The peeps left out of Bitcoin education are the targets to scammers within the space.. this is more than true as ignorance is very expensive if Bitcoin and blockchain education isn't a thing for you

I think to every beginner bitcoin seems to be broad which they only understand things gradually , I think it is very important to useful to enlighten every beginner because they do not know all and they can be easily manipulated by scammers. People who knows about the strategy of scammers got understanding by their own personal experience which they became victims or they already got good orientation from people who are already in the system.  Spreading knowledge to beginners will really help them not fall into the hand of scammers or things that can make them to lose their money in Bitcoin investment.

I guess we are talking about adults, people who are supposed to know how the world works. If they want to invest in something they don't know/don't understand without even doing a proper research, it's kind of difficult to feel pity for them. Of course scamming people is wrong but if you're putting your money somewhere then do more research, try to be sure about what you're doing instead of always looking for a shorcut.

Exactly, you can blame yourself because someone falls victim, if he is ready to learn and is serious about it, he will try and come to you and you will guide him about it, but some people are not ready to learn and most of them are the ones falling to scammers because they cheat them because they don't know anything about bitcoin and they can send there details to scammers and that will make it easier to get there fund, so the best thing to do if someone is interested to invest in bitcoin, just tell him the procedure you used to learn about Bitcoin because there are many places to learn and if he is serious, he will learn everything there is to know about bitcoin at learnmeabitcoin. Because that is the first thing I come across and you will learn a lot about bitcoin, any newcomers who are interested in bitcoin should go and research on it and he will be more easy for him.

That's right that's why they should do further research regarding on those information they want to learn since doing shortcuts on everything related to crypto currency will lead them to something that they might regret at the end. There's nothing wrong if they would ask to other people who knows about it if they see us busy so that no scamming incident will happen to them. But for so many scams around and we don't know which of those are truly legit for sure they will still fall on scammers trap so if they experience this maybe they should learn a valuable lesson so that next time they can do more better job on their next investment.

Also if they are not really sure about the investments they are deciding to participate they can continue to reach us and they shouldn't get shy for asking information since as long it can help for sure we can spend some little time to make them understand about those risk they wanna try to come with those investments especially on new token launch in the market.

Do you really think that he will put the blame on you for his stupid decision?
Did you told him to "invest" his savings in that particular "crypto exchange?
I think that your friend is a victim of his own greed.
Why is it so hard to tell these three things to all crypto noobs:
1.Never trust centralized exchanges or crypto companies in general.
2.Always do your own research before putting your money somewhere.
3.Use a cold wallet instead of a hot wallet(explain them the difference between cold and hot wallets).
I'm sure that 99% of the crypto noobs are smart enough to understand these core principles.

Dont Blame yourself from someone's Stupidity  mate, it is not your obligation to tell or teach
 anyone about bitcoin or anything in life because this is our prerogatives so never to look at what happened to be your mistake ,
He must learn it himself like many of us did and also sometimes we need to have wronged first before learning the better way ,
cryptocurrency is a huge market and yes this is also a big responsibility as we are dealing with our own money.you have done
 right to tell him learn about bitcoin in internet and the problem with Him is he did not asked you again for follow up, because
 if he really feels that you can help him out then he must ask you again for at least better site to learn or before he invested right?

If they approach me and are willing to learn about it, I always tell them the truth and not sugarcoat my words or just cherry-pick nice stories in order to recruit them to be one of us. rather I make sure I explain it well to them and tell them everything I know especially when it comes to preventing themselves from scammers and hackers. I also conclude my teaching about bitcoins with the volatility of the crypto market so that I am free of any blame when they decide to invest after I explained it well to them. Some people don't ask you anything but rather underestimate you and they go by themselves to invest without any proper knowledge of crypto, this is not your problem at all when they mess up.

I agree with you, if it were me I wouldn't teach that guy even if he asked me. Furthermore, the OP is also wrong in this case because the OP also told the other person to learn and self-study bitcoin online. But that guy didn't work hard to improve his knowledge and rushed into investing with a group of strangers and then had to pay the price. That's a lesson for his greed, so OP doesn't have to blame himself or feel sorry for him. People should be responsible for themselves rather than relying on others. Everyone will have to make mistakes when they are new and that is one of the many lessons the market will teach that guy.

If we can help him find the right answers to the questions he asks us about Bitcoin, we need to help him so he doesn't get the wrong answers. We also help him avoid investment programs that could cause him to be deceived and lose a lot of money.

That's why everyone who wants to invest in Bitcoin should be able to find answers to their questions. They should have friends who can give the correct answers so they can avoid this fraud.

Unfortunately, many beginners are fooled by these investment programs just because they want to get big profits in a short time. They don't want to take the time to look for valid information. Instead, they join WhatsApp or even Telegram groups that they find on social media. That was the beginning of their experience with scams, and they only realized it after the money was gone.

I can see that you feel the guilt in you for not putting him through when he came to you because he believes that you can guide him on the right track. This should make you be open to teach people that comes to you to have bitcoin knowledge to avoid this same thing from happening again.

On the other hand, you still don't know what was this victim mindset towards bitcoin. Nobody knows how he got scammed in that Watsapp group. Did you ask him how it happened, are you sure that it wasn't based on his greed and he made the wrong decision. Although he doesn't understand anything on bitcoin so he will be vulnerable to scammers especially when he is too anxious investing. We should always help people who come to us to learn the basic knowledge of bitcoin because they have that trust in you that you are the right person to teach them

The way you convey it is actually not concrete enough to convey your knowledge to your colleagues who are not too close, Your colleague still has minimal knowledge about Bitcoin, Maybe your friends or colleagues have searched for themselves on the internet (online) and many of the videos watched by your colleagues like affiliates that show Bitcoin which is tempting to get instant and fast money. There is no need for pity or regret, because it happened or has already happened Your colleague has lost quite a lot of money. Maybe in the future, if an incident like the one above occurs, it would be good if you told as much as possible about the Bitcoin that you have mastered so far, so that there are no more victims like those above.

Nah, I don't call it illiteracy, it's laziness. There has been a lot of people nowadays who just want to put their money directly into something that has become a trending over the internet without conducting any DYOR or due diligence. These people are the ones who works hard with their day jobs and crossed their fingers into trending investments hoping to get passive income that could potentially make them rich.
Don't feel bad for the people like these. As long as you tell them not to trust random people over the internet without having any knowledge through self studies and research.
These are the reason why there are still a lot of people who are susceptible to scamming.

Don't put that burden on me my guy, if I fail to tell them the stuff they need to learn is not because I failed to teach them but because they've ignored me and my "lecture" and most of the time, I don't think that I am not giving them an information overload anyway so I don't understand how I can be too boring and worth ignoring, most of the time I tell the basics of bitcoin and how it works and then tell them the negative parts of it and then I tell them to explore it themselves. Now if they don't ask for my advice when they're exploring on their own, that's not on me because that says that they are better than me already.

If we have the opportunity to help someone, we should not refuse if they are really serious about learning to invest in bitcoin. But in OP's case, we shouldn't blame him for not being able to teach his friend about bitcoin. Sometimes we are busy or don't have enough time to teach someone in time when they ask us about bitcoin. Furthermore, the fault here mostly belongs to OP's friend because he could have learned everything himself if OP refused, but I guess he was too hasty and invested with a get-rich-quick mindset.

Having a trustworthy friend accompany you on your investment journey is a good thing, but if you have to go alone it is not impossible, it all depends on us, don't rely too much on anyone.

To be honest, the title of your thread really annoys me. It's not my, nor your duty to waste your time to educate others when you get nothing in return. Don't get me wrong, you do good job if you do so but everyone is born with brain and the function of brain in humanity is to train it, become better, have an ability to analyze, to find a difference between reality and illusion, to find a difference between good and evil.
If I did my own research and didn't invest in any scam that I faced, that means that others can repeat my path too, it's not a football or a rocket science. Even if you educate those people, if they are not careful, overall, they will end up either getting scammed in another way or they'll use a centralized wallet service like blockchain.com or use Electrum/Sparrow but get their device infected or will not be able to safely save keys and so on.

Everyone should shake their heads. It's okay to ask questions but it's not okay for me to do someone else's job, right? So, don't reward yourself with unnecessary responsibilities because in the end, no one will appreciate it, they'll only yell at you when they face problems from any of your advice.

I can feel you mate , I have a Highschool classmate that also once asked me about how and why I am to crypto but instead of answering and focusing , I just denied the question and Give Him no answers not knowing that those time he is interested in investing in Bitcoin .
pass forward after years we have conducted a HS reunion that we come to meet each other and upon drinking in table , we tackled about His crypto Journey and learn that he was a scammed victim and from their i have same feeling with you.
so why now that each person come to me about bitcoin? then I surely answering them and bringing them advises .

Though it's natural to feel bad in this situation, I think you shouldn't beat yourself up for that. The thing is, there is nothing wrong in teaching someone about the dos and don'ts of Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies if they approach you themselves because when someone does that, it means that they at least have some interest in the topic and that's why they are asking and in that situation, we shouldn't back off and give them whatever knowledge we have as that's the least we can do for them.

However, I don't recommend approaching people who are not interested in Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies and trying to teach them about it and forcefully make them invest money in them because in that case, if they do make investments and eventually lose money, you will be the one who is responsible for that.

Most people see the crypto space as a get-rich-quick industry because they want to double what they have invested in a few days. Immediately you tell them the truth, they will see it as a waste of time. However, it is our responsibility to give people balanced information about the sector and let them make the decision to invest or not.

It is not compulsory to tell someone about the Bitcoin ecosystem, but I will blame you for not giving the person at least some basic information about Bitcoin. He came to you and you have the responsibility to help him. It is possible that he does not understand the sector and needs further clarification. I will never persuade anybody to buy Bitcoin but any interested person will get an interesting lecture from me about the sector. Bitcoin awareness is the pathway of adoption so any opportunity to speak to someone about the currency is not a bad idea.      

Mentorship is one of the easiest ways to learn but how would one know a good mentor? Most people in the Bitcoin ecosystem always want to maintain privacy so they don't like having mentees. The problem with mentorship in my area is that most people you trust end up becoming the biggest scammers.  

Exactly! That's why it's quite difficult to teach or spoon feed others particulary those who aren't interested in this matter  because once they encounter a problem about their investments, there is a possibility that in the end they will blame you for what may happen. Better to give them an introduction and basic background about crypto and bitcon and let them do the other task for theirself, Im not saying that you have to be mean to them but they need to learn on their own.

This is unfortunate but you are not responsible of everyone you meet or know

Their decisions are what led them to this you could’ve prevented this, yes but even if you taught them properly how sure are you that they won’t fall victim to any other scams out there? or make bad decisions regarding investment? Cryptocurrency is far from a secret and there’s lots of articles/youtube videos/podcasts that explain crypto, trading, and investing for beginners

Anyone could’ve done their research I do get the guilt this comes with though but there’s really nothing you can do anymore

I agree with the "advise" part, because first of all, you and the OP don't have the responsibility to teach others. Why? In this day and age, all things are accessible. There is an internet they can use to search for materials or things they need to know. Yes,  you could guide them or give them some advice and tips, but it will never be your responsibility to teach them what they will do in the crypto world. We all need to learn by ourselves because we need to stand on our own two feet, especially in bitcoin or crypto. We cannot rely on anyone in this field.


I get your point and the OP's point, but that is the summary of this: you are not responsible for teaching the beginners; be a guide and advisor only. No matter what happens to them, good or bad, it's their own doing, not yours. I'm not being selfish or anything; I'm just being a good advisor and doing my thing as a guide.

These situations are really bad but your own interest and research to learn about bitcoin and crypto is more useful. If you have your own learning needs it becomes effective if you take a little advice from others. It is not possible to force someone to teach something so it is better to explain as much as you want to know. If you use your own knowledge and know something new about bitcoin and the market you won't regret investing and the risk is low. Cryptocurrencies are highly valued all over the world as they are exchanged online it is easy to find various information on the internet.

I understand your feelings, your intention is good so that your friends are independent in finding information and if there is a loss on your Bitcoin investment it is also indirectly unrelated.

I don't want to judge or make any sentiments, this is based on my experience too. I will give 2 attitudes to 2 people. The first attitude is to inform and guide him intensely because Bitcoin and crypto investments are very sensitive and prone to scams. The second attitude is to let him find out for himself, this applies to friends who know Bitcoin not from me but through social interactions or other people besides me, when he doesn't discuss or ask me anything, I will remain silent without intervening, unless he discusses crypto or mining, or investment with indications of a scam.

Maybe my second attitude is unethical.

Sometimes there is a big ego when it comes to this, maybe we as members of the Bitcointalk forum should be aware and start playing a role in the real world in educating, giving direction, explaining Crypto, especially Bitcoin, to the environment. In cyberspace we have forums and exchange ideas, sometimes there is education and guidance, in the real world we are also free to do this to anyone.

I feel bad about what happened to your friend.

We fail to lecture them and correct their wrongdoings because they don't care about us as well and they don't weigh much on the piece of advice that is shared with them. Therefore, it was not our fault but theirs, and we don't give pity to such people who never understand our intention and never appreciate our help with them. They will just realize it when they suffer losses at the hands of these scammers.

Well, it is a very usual thing to happen - a person will just realize their mistakes and recall the past when mistakes are done already.

People don't normally ask me about Bitcoin, but I'll keep the risk of getting scammed in mind because I do agree that if a person is showing interest, we should warn that person about phishing websites, exit scams, fake giveaways, as well as about the importance of not losing access to one's wallet.
I'm sorry someone the op knows fell victim to a scam, and while it's not op's fault, it's a good lesson for the future. It's not hard to warn about the risks, and it can help reduce the number of scam victims, so I think it would be a nice rule to follow.

We can get to know about the cases of being a victim of scams which is reported, but there are many cases that remain hidden from us. A person who new to Bitcoin can naturally make some mistakes. But these mistakes can be avoided if he tries to acquire some basic knowledge about Bitcoin. We find that people with personalities who think they know a lot after knowing a little are more likely to fall into this trap. As such it is their fault but those of us who try to give an idea about Bitcoin should also be aware. They should be given an idea in advance of where they might go wrong and what mistakes they are likely to make.

Yeah it is natural to feel bad if things don't go your way, and if bitcoin is the course then that should be the reason you should not give up and the problem is when some people are introducing bitcoin they don't give full information of chances of losing your money they only give info on the profit. Forgetting that aside the nature of bitcoin their are scams all over. If the person asking questions about bitcoin if his a serious type then their is no need to keep such information from such person, their a lot of people who want to just do try and error and people with does mind set are not serious and even when they start investing in bitcoin at the end of the day they will end up selling.
I think you should spoon feed because bitcoin is more complicated that it looks and learning is not a thing  of rush the learner should take enough time in gaining knowledge, do more research even watch videos getting different idea on one subject will help in time of understanding. Since the person is just learning everything should be taking gradually.

That is true once they start encountering challenges they will blame you and will start asking annoying questions when things go wrong, understand the persons personality before you introduce them to aviod long stories. After telling them about the basics then be plain of how possible it is for them to loose their money.

Actually the truth is that, there are a large number of people among us who know little but want to present themselves to people as very knowledgeable. Therefore I agree with you that these public wrong suggestions or advice cause loss to others and as well as they also harm their-self. So for avoiding facing scam or loss, we have to correct these mistakes initially.
Also, before investing in Bitcoin, I think a person needs to have a good knowledge of Bitcoin wallets, which wallets are good to use, and why they are more secure before investing to protect their funds from scammers and hackers.  Apart from that, all the devices which will be involved with bitcoin or investment should be stopped from all other general browsing like entertainment purpose.  Because many times they help hackers.

What do you mean by right thing, what did you teach him wrong, as far as I understand you just said DYOR as you thought he is wasting your time like others who used to show interest in front of you, and in the back they made fun of it. (I have faced it), well if that' 's what you suggested then I don't think it's your problem or due to you he invested $3,000 dollars. He did that on his own, did he ask you? If not then you don't have to feel sorry.

There is a saying in our culture which is taking advice proved to be in best so if he would at least have a advice before investing that much he might not become a victim to them. Well, all I can say for now is open a legal case against those number owners in police stations and leave it on the authorities if crypto is not banned in your country.

Overall, we should not judge any person before teaching them anything, if you doubt there devotion, then test it, instead of saying DYOR, I also faced this situation and I never shared all of the information at once, even to my brothers and sisters, I just said, start reading as much as you can and whenever you wish to take action take advice from me, I might be of some help to you.

I don't want to burden myself with such responsibility, if people ask me about Bitcoin, I will do my best to explain to them what I know, but that's about all, I wouldn't push them to learn more or do more research, I would end it with the usual phrase, 'You need to do more research on your own'. But that's about all of it, I wouldn't push them or force them or shill more about Bitcoin, if they decide to actually do the research than it's good, if not then no problem. It's not my responsibility to get people into Bitcoin.

That's sad that he became a victim of such a group and gave away that much money without even confirming it first. He should have at least tested them before giving them a huge amount, or he should have checked the review, or he should have asked someone, maybe you. I don't think he can get that money back now, it's all gone. We all make mistakes and learn from them, but this mistake was very expensive, and he, the victim, is not going to trust BTC even if he does not learn BTC the right way.

You also make a mistake by just saying Do your own research because it would be best for the victim if you would have suggested to him the basic ideas of how to avoid phishing links and phishing offers because many newbies don't have any idea of such things, and in their minds, it's normal because they take cryptocurrency as a gateway to a new life where they can be totally independent of the money.

You should help him regain his financial status again, and my suggestion to you and to every person here is to never ignore any newbie eager to learn new things because your help can save them a lot of money. I know how frustrating it becomes when you take on the responsibility of teaching a newbie about BTC, but it is worth it if they get to know the real potential.

A lot of people are drawn to bitcoin because of good stories they hear from people about bitcoin and that’s where they get it all wrong, everything with advantages also have disadvantages and anything with gains is likely to have losses attached to it as well but this newcomers just assume everything about bitcoin is gains. This kind of people are likely to be scammed and only the most determined ones stay back after getting scammed and it’s only after being scammed that they become so serious about learning bitcoin the proper way.

So sad for him to have fallen for such scam, it was already destined for him to fall for this scam that’s why he met you at the wrong time. Some disappointment can be a blessing in disguise i just hope he doesn’t give up just yet but $3000 is just too much. When someone is new to a thing doing their own research without anyone guiding them can be very difficult especially in the crypto community and they may end falling for easy scams along the line. Whenever i hear of people falling for scam i feel so sorry for them because it’s not easy to lose your hard earned money.

I think the best thing to do is to be console him in this period and advise him how risky it is in crypto and also motivate him so he doesn’t give up. He can still make that much money when he is determined and also teach him the ways of bitcoin and how to secure his assets.

It is not the right thing to do in my opinion because no one is born with knowledge and we don’t have the ability to successfully carry out research on our own and fully understand it. Alot of us here didn’t start on our own, we have mentors who guide us through and explain to us so it is right to pass knowledge to others who seek for them neglecting them is not the right thing to do.

Even if what you say is true because not everyone can do learning independently but burdening yourself by trying to teach everyone about bitcoin will also only make you tired yourself even though the intention is very noble but still everyone who wants to learn about something then they should try to learn for themselves especially they are adults and do not need to be fed continuously to get something because they can already determine the right and wrong and must be able to sort out when they want to succeed in bitcoin even though it does need encouragement from us as people who understand better but in the end we also don't have to have the burden of trying to cram everyone to match what we know because it could be that in the end with them new people who are allowed to find out for themselves can be better in terms of knowledge than us in the end.

I do not see any reason why you should over burden yourself over his loss. This had nothing to do with you not teaching him about Bitcoin.  Anyone can get scammed on any platform and  not limited to just Bitcoin alone.  The young man was just too desperate to invest in Bitcoin that he failed to pay attention to the fact that scammers are everywhere offering so good to be true opportunities and unsolicited help. Stories about scammers and the tactics they use in defrauding their victims are not new to us, this is the reason we need to be conscious at all times. When dealing with strange people like this, we should know when to pause and have a rethink,  especially when money is involved.

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Most times, when we try educating  other people about the things we know,  they tend to take  our efforts for granted.  Deciding not to help again is not the best option because you do not know who you are inspiring from afar. One little offer of help will go a long way.

Presently no one cares about other's emotions and feelings and say whatever they want also they don't think about the help which one has done when they need. Whatever you do for other and teach them about a useful and profitable thing but once they face a loss then they will always remember that loss and will blame you but they will not remember that their profit is also because of you when you provide them such learning.

Now a days everyone can better understand so just learn and make profit for yourself but don't share your profit or loss with others because no one cares about anyone. Good deeds are not remembered but will share about their loss with everyone because they will put all responsibility of losing money on that person from which they have learned.

Well, to be honest, If I was you the op, I did feel very bad too, I did feel I was the reason why the person ended up being scammed.

It is good to teach, most especially when they are the ones that come to us, for me, I usually do my best to educate to the best of my knowledge, anybody that comes to me for help in terms of bitcoin and other investment purposes, I do my best to educate them to the best of my knowledge, no matter the kind of mode I am when the person approached me, I try to cheer myself up and say a thing or two that the person can hold on to.

But just incase I was approached when I was maybe particularly very busy with something very important which I can't leave to gives answers to the persons queries, instead of turning the person away, I simply just tell the person to come back to me at a certain time when I know that I will be less busy.

As far as I can remember, I have never told anyone to go to the internet and do their own research, what I know I do most of the time is, after teaching the person all I know, I will also tell the person to try and search some thing on the internet, that is, what ever I have said that he or she is still confused about.

Anyways, don't be so hard on yourself @op, what is bound to happen will surely happen regardless.

It's already a part of the personality of a person. Whenever something bad happens, people will start to find someone to blame. Especially on their investment, having a loss will make people think that you're the reason for that. If they make a profit, they will think highly of themselves.

But this is not the reason for us to stop sharing knowledge with other people. It's all up to them if they take the knowledge we share in a positive or a negative way. And it doesn't matter if they don't remember the good deeds you did, what's important is you were able to help other people in a simple way.

  It pays to be  good and kind to people, even when there is nothing to gain. People are quick to putting blames on someone when they fail to achieve their goals especially when it involves money. Teaching a friend about bitcoin is a great win but then when talking about the many benefits of cryptocurrency and bitcoin its is important to also share its disadvantages and risk to the person. Be a guiding light to the newbies and never be tired of showing them around the space. We all started from the scratch at some point and steadily we started growing knowledge and understanding about the space. Same applies to the newbies trying to start their journey in the cryptocurrency space.
   I have always been an advocate of doing good with free mind, expect nothing much from anyone that you will be more happy in dealing with other, people we always do their will but that shouldn’t change who you are. The universe will always be in your favor if you’re free in spirit because good things comes to the kind hearted.

Just today, someone in the same WhatsApp group with me, was complaining of how he has lost so much due token, because his wallet was hacked and all his assets transferred to another wallet.
The person in question is not a newbie and has been very careful with his wallets, but yet, the hack happened.

My point is, getting lectured about BTC will not automatically immune you from falling victim of some scam.

never that this become our problem and fault , because why?

First - We are not obligated to teach or help others about their investment and engagement in crypto or all form of money matter.

Second - Each of us must be responsible for our money meaning invest with your own knowledge

Third - We are the one who is asking favor so there are never a reason to blame others for our losses

I believe that if they were being scammed  then it is their mistake and faith I believe.

- indeed, it's our own money and even with advice from other people when it comes to investment, it's our responsibility to decide whether we will invest or not. Whatever the outcome is, it's on yourself. Never ever blame other people if you know to yourself that you made the final decision.

Sometimes there are people think about that its there responsibility to make those people they teach about bitcoin to be safe. But actually they don't know what's running around the mind of those people and even if they are not lacking with important advice for sure there are times that those people became more greedy especially if they want to earn fast cash and they see a program that they think can help them to make that huge profit generating happen. And unfortunately they end up being scam and been stressed about that situation.

 But to be honest we are not responsible regarding on what happen to them since they are the one who can decide on the faith of their investment. But they failed for that round so maybe we just advice them to bounce back and do better decision so that they could possibly minimize the risk and earn those losses they get from those scams.

Scams are everywhere and a lot of greedy people around, and they are easily boxed with these scammers.
We never fail to lecture them but it is hard to change someone if their thinking is different as they will do what they think is right (but it is wrong). Perhaps, we've been doing our part to educate some people and help them to avoid scams but too unfortunate that they easily forget the warning when hearing some good offer ( xxx profit in one day, one week, or one month). Yes, they simply jump on it without thinking it is a scam trick.

Yes, you are right. It also often happens to us when there are people who come to us wanting to learn from us. But we can't afford to help him. But we can show him how to learn on his own and he can discuss it with us again when we have free time.

His friend should be able to learn about Bitcoin himself so he doesn't depend on @OP. This would be better for him because he wouldn't have to wait for when @OP could have some free time. Plus, he can get more information about Bitcoin and later, he can ask @OP about it.

In learning everything, we cannot depend on other people. We should be active in looking for the information we want because other people may not have the information we are looking for.

These scammers are very smart, they appear very genuine (at least to a newbie or greedy person). So even if you had educated that person on what Bitcoin is, he might have still fallen victim if he did not carry out his research. Scammers confuse them till they don't even know what they believe, you'll end up being the bad guy to him because to him, he has found a path to become a millionaire and you were hiding it from him.
Also, if you had educated him and he decided to invest, he might have blamed you for any losses because it was through you he got involved.

It's wrong for anybody to get involved in any investment they don't have an idea about. Always at least the basic knowledge and it should be the right knowledge. Also since you have only the basic knowledge, don't go into the advanced part of that investment.
For example, a newbie who just got involved in Bitcoin learned how and where to buy BTC and hold it in his noncustodial wallet wants to become a day trader overnight because he knows how to buy and sell Bitcoin. It shouldn't be so.