I know we always have to advise people to do their own research for any referral given to them, but still, you do not want to give someone a referral on some altcoin just for them to do their own research and find out that they just dodged a bullet.
Do not just refer to any cryptocurrency; refer to bitcoin when introducing a newbie to cryptocurrency.
You actually gave a legit reason about referrals. Experience is the best teacher and it taught me a lot when it comes to referrals whether am the one referring or not. I remember when I wanted to start making investment in crypto and I was referred to a someone who was the "guru" in crypto stuff back then, he unfortunately introduced me to some shitcoins saying that it was going to 10x in a few days.
I was buying this altcoin every month after receiving my salary, but the unfortunate happened, and I lost it all. Since then I am not always moved by referral made to me and I do not refer altcoins to my friends so that they do not experience such. This is a different story with Bitcoins being a project that withstood the test of time.
One need to be careful on the referral link sent to them before clicking on it because that another means scammers hack into someone's system to get information like personal and bank data.