The worrying thing is that these types of scams are proliferating. I seem to get messages "inviting" me nearly every day to join something like this.

These BitConnect people have tried to recruit me for their scam previously and it looked fishy to me right away.

It sad that people get caught up in this and either don't realise that they are helping to perpetrate the scam or are being dishonest with themselves.

Just because some early investors get paid does not make it legit - that is exactly what happens in Ponzis and pyramid schemes and what is used to attract later investors.

If nobody got any money then the scam wouldn't work!

Integrity is more important than profits - if all you care about is money, then you would be better off becoming an investment banker (or an owned politician).