Quote from: Puppet on April 03, 2014, 09:53:40 PM

Quote from: OgNasty on April 03, 2014, 09:45:28 PM

I'm shocked that even in hindsight people don't see the signs... Reputations are earned through time and honest dealings, not with identifications and promises.

Doesnt guarantee a thing. Dont you remember the 'why I trust Patrick Harnett" threads, Pirate had the top rating on OTC, and have you seen JohnK lately? If a contract isnt enforceable by legal means, you can bet on getting scammed sooner or later. AM may be the proverbial exception that proves the rule. So far.

Well, common sense has to play a role as well. Is there anyone who thought Patrick Harnett & Pirate were doing honest dealings? I certainly hope not. Pirate came out and said not to trust him several times as well as hinting that he was engaging in illegal activity. Even TradeFortress' lending site didn't pass the sniff test. I also suspected ukyo & graet were trying to get rich playing the spread between their loans and the ones TradeFortress was brokering and thus kept a close eye on them selling off my stake as soon as they became unresponsive.

Quote from: solomon on April 03, 2014, 10:13:02 PM

I don't see how Neo was an 'obvious scam'. If i was going to cut and run I wouldn't waste a load of money on office space, employees and newspaper and TV advertising after the IPO was closed. A flawed business plan possibly but a scam from the start, I don't see it.

Perhaps scam is a bad description. It was obvious that the operation was a money furnace and of course you would waste money on advertising after the IPO. You don't think all those shares were sold to investors do you? They needed to appear legit to continue dumping their own shares after the IPO.