Oh wow. I feel for your friend who had to get ruined because of some scamming scheme. This is one reason I don't invite people to something I am not sure of. I better do it alone than implicating myself and putting myself in danger. I hope things turn out well for him again.
For the second part, thank God your mother stopped you. Perhaps if you had the money, you would have gone ahead and in the end, you will start to regret. Let's be careful always.
My friend was ruined of course. We should not invite our friends where we don't know exactly what things are. My mother is my best friend she helped me all the time.