Netflix's Crypto Boy provides viewers with three valuable financial lessons

 Netflix's Crypto Boy provides viewers with three valuable financial lessons

The unbelievable tale of Gerald Cotton, a Quadriga executive who mysteriously disappeared with $250 million and left behind a wife (to whom he left millions after his death!) is the focus of a Netflix documentary; fashionista Lauren Remington Platt is in the spotlight for fusing blockchain technology with the fashion industry; and an envious story of Binance's boy genius Zhao Changpeng, who is living large with his Crypto exchange.

Our infatuation with cryptocurrency appears unabated, regardless of how many Bankman-Fried or Do Kwans are detained for cryptocurrency fraud. The recently released Netflix original film Crypto Boy tells the tale of Amir, a young boy who becomes entangled in a scam after being promised money. Given how many real-life tales we are familiar with, the story is predictable yet nonetheless relevant. 

In this movie, which is set in Amsterdam, we witness Amir's father working in his Mexican restaurant with his neighbors, watching football while debating a crucial decision: should they accept the money the developer is giving and relocate to a new location? Make room for gentrification, please? 

While this is going on, his son Amir, 20, is selling Chinese beard growth oil to teenagers rather than doing burrito deliveries for his father. The connection between a father and son is love-hate. The kid is weary of the constant effort, but the father wants him to work hard since he has had to. He accidentally enters the realm of cryptography while delivering a burrito to a security guard at an event. Amir joins Crypto Bros because of his ability to converse well, but they let him down.

Lesson 1: Aspiring to financial independence is admirable, but proceed with caution

Amir is so fed up with delivering burritos and having no or little money to spend that he is readily persuaded by an entrepreneur's speech at an event. A young man who works for tips and lives in his father's house becomes an easy target since the promise of "Don't work your life away making money, make money work for you" is so enticing. He receives an unexpected invitation to a party with the cryptocurrency guys. Even his father, who believes that constant hard effort is the best way to survive, is at odds with him.

You will also be seduced by programs that offer fantastic returns and quick money, as well as by crypto funds. But be aware that, like Amir, when you invest your life savings because you are sick of working 9 to 5 you will not get any assistance when the nice offices of the "fund" are as empty as your account and you are a victim of fraud. 

Although not all schemes are filled with deception, these are your savings. Don't disregard caution, learn more about, and use loopholes wisely. Be cautious of con artists.

Lesson 2: If a plan seems too good to be true, it generally is. Amir is a money mule for the crypto brothers. He gets a call from the bank asking him why he put 45,000 euros and then withdrew it in an instant. Amir is an innocent boy. He is unaware that the bank account information he provided to the Crypto firm was utilized to make money vanish. He is told everything will be OK.

Amir is unaware that Berta, a neighbor who shares Amir's frustration with poverty and deposited her life savings in the same Crypto program, has succumbed to his sales pitch. When his father is hospitalized, Amir secretly puts his father's rainy day savings in the business. Amir and Berta don't realize they've been scammed until the ponzi scheme dominates the headlines. When the police arrive to interview Amir, they discover that he was also a victim of a pyramid scam.

Though we believe ourselves to be intelligent, we are duped by the promise that we will unintentionally recruit friends and family members into pyramid schemes. It's necessary to temper your excitement and limit your investments to reputable financial institutions.

Lesson 3: Free meals for family. Fraud recovery is never simple.

The father of Amir realizes that his kid is interested in the cryptocurrency and financial industries. He tells his kid, "I know that you don't want to be a part of my restaurant and do deliveries," even if he doesn't comprehend it. You like using that Crypto software. I'll utilize the money I have saved to go to college, acquire a degree, and learn about finance.

But despite being promised money, Amir has spent it on cryptocurrency and even used some of it to renovate his father's business. Amir fights the scammer physically in an attempt to get his money back, but all he ends up with is a bloodied nose. The neighbors combine their funds, and Amir's father starts a new eatery. The adage "family eats free" still holds true, and it's clear that Amir has grown up and is pitching in.

Recovery in real life might sometimes be less predictable than in fiction. Because of this, we must exercise additional caution and flexibility when our family members make errors. Instead of criticizing them, we should unite behind them. Don't forget that working with the police will help catch the criminals as well.

Cryptocurrency is a brand-new and unexplored concept. It's simple to be envious of the lifestyles of extremely young men and women who live in condominiums and spend money like water. However, not everyone who delivers McDonald's food ends up like Zhao Changpeng. He had to work more than most people while studying, as well. Amir's narrative offers us hope even if it is a mirror of several real-life crypto tragedies.

Manisha Lakhe is a poet, film critic, traveler, creator of the online writer's community Caferati, presenter of Mumbai's oldest open mic, and instructor of communication, advertising, and cinema. On Twitter, you may follow her at @manishalakhe.