“Pyramid scheme?! Jack, don’t be ridiculous. I don’t like the word ‘scheme,’ and anyway it’s more like a triangle.”

TIPS & TRICKS

Justice Wears Suspenders: YouTuber Coffeezilla Exposes Financial Fraud, Crypto Schemes

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Investing is hard, particularly for those who are newcomers to the world of ROI, P/E, capital gains, blockchain technology, yield vs. face value, etc. It can be difficult to know if you’re getting into something promising and legitimate or being hoodwinked by a flashy scam.

Enter Stephen Findeisen, AKA Coffeezilla, an independent investigative journalist uncovering the truth behind popular grifts, advocating for restitution to victims, and occasionally even getting a bad guy arrested. According to the bio on Findeisen’s YouTube page, which boasts nearly 3.5 million subscribers, “I uncover scams, fraudsters, and fake gurus that are preying on desperate people with deceptive advertising. If you have to ask… it’s probably too good to be true.” From his “ten million dollar studio” (a tongue-in-cheek appellation for what is obviously a green-screen location, boasting a Blade Runner aesthetic and a hovering Lamborghini),

Coffeezilla meticulously investigates the claims, financial records, and results of scammers big and small for the purpose of saving people from losing their hard-earned cash.

Best of all, it’s pretty entertaining.

Stephen styles himself “the internet detective,” and he dresses the part, wearing suspenders and adopting the persona of an old-time private investigator in a film noir. An excellent storyteller, he is able to hold the attention of the average viewer even while documenting complicated financial data. The result? He’s been threatened with lawsuits and death threats and has received plenty of slander/libel online. But he is undeterred. Scammers beware – Coffeezilla is out there.

What makes all of the theatrics, coupled with responsible journalistic practices, all the more wonderful is Stephen’s simple, revealing, unassuming bio on X:

“Internet Detective Exposing Scams. Follower of Jesus.”
That’s it.

Having watched quite a bit of Coffeezilla’s videos, I have never seen him sermonize. He tells his audience, “Don’t trust what some guy on the internet says, guys. Not even me.” Though he is sometimes attacked as being holier-than-thou or self-righteous – those accusations (that seem to mostly come from the people whose schemes he is exposing) fall flat. What we seem to have is a simple believer with a passion for truth and justice, serving the world for the sake of his God, but he mostly keeps his motivations to himself. His heart is for the victims, he does good work, and maybe, just maybe, the world is a tiny bit more honest and fair because of Stephen Findeisen.

There’s something inspiring about that.

You can check out the Coffeezilla YouTube channel here.

Quick Hits

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• Walgreens and CVS to begin selling abortion pills, in a move that has drawn sharp criticism and outrage from Christian and conservative voices.
• The Wall Street Journal offers expert tips on how to invest in a bull market.
• The merger between Spirit Airlines and JetBlue is officially off.
• A federal judge has ruled that Christian companies do not have to pay for transgender surgeries.
• Google co-founder admits that the company “messed up” with its rollout of AI product Gemini.
• For the first time since 2016, Target’s sales declined.