The most common mistake of a newbie is they don't know how to do their own research because they were blinded by the idea of making money too easy. In fact, there's no easy money because most people work very hard to acquire that while some of them just happened to have a brain yet they didn't use for good but instead they use it for scamming people just like OP's friend.

If only our school would teach us how to invest and what the precautionary measures to not easily fall for the investment traps we wouldn't be a newbie victim to an easy money but school never teach us that.