The yearning to transcend financial instability consumed Samuel’s thoughts. Would he ever break free from the shackles of monetary uncertainty? This question incessantly haunted him.
One fateful day, Samuel’s friend (Richard), who was also his roommate, excitedly approached him with a captivating proposal he had heard about. It entailed investing a specific amount of capital and reaping a threefold return on investment. Initially skeptical, Samuel’s intrigue grew as he heard tales of people amassing significant returns on their investments. Ignoring this seemingly effortless avenue to financial success felt like an act of ignorance. Thus, Samuel contemplated the investment for several days, carefully weighing its potential risks and rewards.
As the weeks progressed, Richard couldn't resist sharing his own story of how he made high returns from the investment. Other roommates couldn't help but eavesdrop, their curiosity piqued. Richard described the investment as "GMG Investment," portraying it as an opportunity to triple their investment. Since they were all broke with little money in their bank accounts, it was intriguing.
Samuel and his roommates decided to pool their money and invest it. They entrusted Samuel with creating the account and making the deposit. He checked the website, and it looked official, so he went ahead to make the deposit. Unfortunately, the funds didn’t reflect after he already made the deposit. Samuel began to worry and talked to Richard about it. Richard told him to wait for a couple of days, suggesting that the delay might be due to an issue with the bank.
Days went by, and the funds still hadn't reflected on the investment website, so he had to inform his roommates that they had fallen victim to a Ponzi scheme. The hope of tripling their investment suddenly became impossible. He also feared they might accuse him of taking the money for himself rather than making the investment.
So he decided to tell his roommates about the issue, and they were highly disappointed and livid to the extent that they began to threaten Samuel, demanding their returns as Richard had promised they would. They decided to confront Richard seeking an explanation for the missing funds. Richard couldn’t provide a reasonable explanation, so one of the roommates (Kunle), punched Richard out of frustration as he had invested his savings into the scheme.
Out of anger and frustration a brawl started and the security officer had to step in. It was against the rules to be involved in any violent act so they were suspended. Samuel was scared of how he was going to relay to his parents that he had been suspended and what caused it. The next morning Samuel traveled home and he confessed what happened to his parents and they were so disappointed in him. They couldn’t fathom how he could have fallen for a ponzi scheme. As punishment he was grounded for three weeks, and his parents told him he is going to work and recover all the money they had worked very hard to provide for him
Samuel found a job at a cafe while attending school at the same time. He went to lectures in the morning and resumed work in the afternoon everyday till he gained back the money he lost. He finally understood the lesson his parents were trying to pass unto him.
Turns out that the money Samuel lost made him realize that the reward he earned from his hard work actually paid him more than any ponzi/ illegal scheme could ever pay him.