Too many folks in situations such as yours get taken advantage of by these scams.
It's important to realize though that there are no shorts on sub penny stocks, other than toxic lenders who cover from the company at a discount. So when you see warnings, they're usually accurate. But there are lots of people looking to dump shares - insiders, toxic lenders and people who know how to play the pump and dump.
Your story is a sad one, and I hope that at least some of those that profited from your losses realizes that the money they used to buy a fancier car comes from someone who can't now get needed surgery.
I pray that the SEC puts the people running these scams in jail, but so far, my prayers have not been answered. All I can do is warn people that when it sounds too good to be true, it most certainly is.
God bless and best of luck.
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people"
H.L. Mencken