The Peruvian government rewarded the 80 or so officers that comprised a special investigations group that captured Abimael Guzman with cash bonuses of $14,000 USD.

Almost all of these officers invested their rewards with a loan scheme that promised high rates of return. Given Peru’s historical inflation, this appeared to be a prudent move.

It wasn’t. The loan scheme was a Ponzi and a mere three months later all their hard-earned rewards were lost.