It was 2016 and I left college some months ago and earned my first "real" money at my job. I was always fascinated by the thought that I could invest my money in companies and participate in their success. After establishing ETF saving plans I also wanted to try my best with stock picking.

I have searched for a company that increased revenue & earnings in the past and is active in a market with excellent prospects and expected growth rates preferably a company from Germany as I thought that this would be easier for me to understand (as I'm german).

And you know what? I found such a company! Everything looked fine to me. Growing revenues every year, great margins and active in a future market: mobile payment. The name of the company was Wirecard. Some of you might now already know why this will end as my worst trade :D

But one thing at a time. So it was early 2016 and I decided to invest some money in Wirecard at 38 €. The due diligence process was not that long, to be honest. I mean it seemed like this company is a rising star in the german tech segment. But only few months later a first short report came out that accused Wirecard of many things. I read a little bit in stock forums and everything seemed to be fine according to them. In addition the BAFIN (Germany financial supervision) fined the author of the report. So for me it was clear that Wirecard is a clean company and I decided to invest some more at 33 €. From then on a steep ride started and the stock reached over 190 € in 2018. So with my first stock investment, I made more than a five-bagger. Well, at least I could have made it if I would have sold at the top. Unfortunately, I haven't. Wirecard continued to increase top and bottom line every year like clockwork. But the accusations that something isn't right became more and more over the years. I always had in my mind that back in 2016, everything seemed to be fine and that even the BAFIN was on Wirecards side. So this time it must also be the bad shortsellers that just want to make money with these accusations. And to be honest, I also fell in love with this stock. I mean, it was my first stock and it made 5x in only a few years, so everything will be fine. I was so blinded that I didn't really pay attention to the arguments of the short sellers.

Well and then in 2020, everything blew up. Wirecard wasn't able to hide the fraud anymore and I couldn't believe it. I wasn't even able to sell the stock directly after the official announcement that a big part of the cash was undetectable :D I waited until the stock fell from 135 € to 19 € and finally sold. So instead of a 5-bagger I made a big loss. It could have definitely been worse from a monetary point of view. But I will always remember that my first invest was in a fraud and that I was too ignorant to listen to wiser people. But at least it was an early lesson for me that one should never fall in love with a stock and always be open to arguments against an investment thesis.