I am at a loss as to why people just don't ask this very basic question: If these people have struck gold with this amazing way to make money- WHY ARE THEY INVOLVING COMPLETE STRANGERS? Altruism?
Why are they not just using their own money, their families money, their close friend's money, or going to a bank and borrowing it themselves, and then packing up after a few years and sailing off into the sunset? It would be simple with the returns claimed. Certainly, if they could prove their risk/return, 'big money'/banks would be falling over themselves to finance it.
Any 'investment' which is actually a scam, fails this simple test. (btw, there were a bunch of allegedly smart people taken by a conman in HK a few years back who could've saved themselves a lot of grief by applying this simple test).