Re: WTF...
That should have been more than enough to tell potential investors to stay away: it is impossible to get one's money back from an investment that fails to work.Suggesting that interest would be added compounds the deceit. If it were possible then the investment wasn't needed in the first place.
It's not quite impossible. If that alone was the one flag I'd consider that they were putting the money into a decent interest-bearing account until they were ready to spend it (although at 5%, it's a litle high for NZ savings accounts!)
There are some schemes that keep the money locked away safely until it's needed for spending, say someone is trying to perfect caffienated chocolate and will only spend the money when they've got the recipe down pat and are ready to buy plant/buildings etc as needed.
Not all people seeking funding will blow it, some will return it if goals aren't met (eg I need $1,000,000 to get this building but only raise $900,457) or if something else goes wrong (I get offered my dream job and cannot be bothered making yet another chocolate factory/I win lotto and never need to work again)
There's several other things that would've been a big red-flag to me, including the 'this is just a glimpse" pic from someone who has plenty of money from the description, and the interest rate would've raised questions, but a promise of a return would not be an issue on its own. Of course, I wouldn't have put my life-savings into something like that, regardless of the promised buy-out (and seeing enough of them go badly, that promised buy-out probably would've been a red-flag and maybe a deal-stopper for me!)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
