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To be honest, back then I also thought that Bitcoin was a scam, OP other than also an illegal currency used in the dark web since I was curious to the whole dark web thing back when I was a teenager.
Lack of knowledge depends on where you plan to be in crypto. Do you fancy the technical stuffs? I love to program however blockchain programming isn't one of those specialization that I really love to deal with. I am more of web app guy with interest also in dealing with games using Unreal Engine, lol.
For mentoring and resources, considering that these are all virtual, I don't think that many people would aim for mentoring. There are a lot of free resources out there in Youtube. I even learned day trading from a single Youtube channel (ain't gonna mention it at this instance as I ain't promoting any channels, lol).
OP, I might add a few more things from my practical experience here.
Local media in my country very often write negatively about crypto, and often give examples of how someone lost money investing in crypto or was scammed.
Even government financial regulators and banks often send out press releases warning of the dangers of crypto investing.
For the average person without much financial experience and education, these are quite enough reasons to give up investing in crypto.
Here also in my country, although it is just warnings and no bans. Even a single bank in here are allowing crypto transaction, although I think that would be just for a short-term considering how many scams happen using crypto.