How I got scammed out of $1M

In this brief clip, a guest tells host Lewis Howes that he was scammed out of $1m after what he considered a cautious, staged investment process. He says a CEO approached him for capital, and he proposed a two-part arrangement: a six-month period of paid consulting, followed—if it proved a “good match”—by rolling the consulting fee into equity alongside a separate investment. The guest describes spending six months meeting the CEO and management team, visiting offices, working on operations, and seeing what he interpreted as genuine growth and execution.

After the six months, he says he converted a $300,000 consulting fee and added a $700,000 investment, totalling $1m. He then claims the CEO “vanished” three days later, and that he was unable to serve him and had to hire a private investigator to find him. The guest alleges he later discovered “it was all a sham”, asserting the CEO had hired “actors” and kept “two sets of books”. He frames the episode as a major personal and professional blow, saying it was a “massive ego hit” given his prior experience building large businesses and conducting due diligence.

• The guest says he invested a total of $1m into a company after a six-month consulting period.
• He describes meeting the CEO and management team, visiting offices, and working on operations during that period.
• He says $300,000 of consulting fees were rolled into the deal alongside a $700,000 investment.
• He claims the CEO disappeared three days after the investment was made.
• He alleges the operation was a “sham”, including “actors” and “two sets of books”.
• He says he hired a private investigator to locate the CEO and describes the loss as a major ego hit.