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Dear Pay Dirt,
My mom has been out of work since she married my father. She went from having a good job in her country to being a stay-at-home mom. I am grateful she was there when we were growing up and I think my dad was until he decided to check out of the marriage; they divorced last year. She tried to go back to work multiple times throughout my childhood and adolescence, even when I was an emerging adult. But my dad dissuaded her most of the time or she felt guilty. It doesn’t help that she only has outdated qualifications from her home country and no records of her schooling.
This brings me to the problem. My mom has fallen victim to quite a few multi-level marketing/pyramid schemes over the years. She’s probably lost some thousands of dollars and has learned there are scams. She’s not one to be duped easily, but she would fall for a pitch made by a relative or close friend and invest in the “business” pitched and try to get friends and family to join. She thought of it as finally earning her own income and helping her children/family benefit, too.
She stayed away after one flopped badly, but a close friend has been trying to get her to invest in crypto and some other international investment ventures after my mom experienced financial problems in the divorce. The friend means well,…
