You are right these scams come out because people trust their friends and do not do their own research. Sadly these scams will keep happening and more people will get caught because we can not stop them only learning can help. If someone who is scammer always promised profits that look huge or good this is alarm that we should be careful. It is also important to remember that getting rich quickly is usually not possible. We should keep in mind that if that were easy everyone would be rich and no one would need to work he invest little amount and earn money by doing nothing.
You are also right investing takes time and patience and sticking with it. We also need to stay calm when market goes up and down and be ready for some risks. Knowledge about these things is best way to protect yourself from these kinds of scams.