I think - and this will sound super dicky but it's really not...

I think - and this will sound super dicky but it's really not meant to be because although I've never posted, I also lost a small amount a few years back on LRS - I think you're dead right about the charlatans working Australia's mum and dad investors... but no one holds a gun to anyone's head and makes them invest. Dicky statement, but I'm pointing squarely at myself here.

Small caps and startups and speculative stocks are fraught with danger even when they're legitimate, and as so many of us have learned the hard and painful way, very few are.

Speculative mining companies are about as deep into the wild west as you can get. They're run by cowboys and spruiked by sharks and the money is harvested by unscrupulous day traders.

LRS is a travesty. I'm truly sorry for all holders - I was once one of them. But, for me at least, the lesson is not to get into the water with sharks. We all know where they like to swim, and ASIC ain't exactly Bondi Rescue.

Like you say, the cowboys get a forced vacation, a doctorate and a crayfish dinner, then get to do it all over again.