Schib,
Lots of people lost lots of money in lots of investments world wide.
Lehmans and Madof both operated in one of those civilized countries you mentioned!
Investment is risk v reward and there are never any guarantees, so you asses the return and make a decision.
Me? No I wouldn't- Not a hard decision as I don't have any money! If i did I'd look at it, but there are lots of potential investments out there, so I don't know if it would stack up or not.
Remember, people who sold at the right time made a lot of money here.
People who didn't lost money EVERYWHERE.