High Yield Investment Programs (HYIPs) are good examples of a classic get rich quick scheme / scam. HYIPs are a type of Ponzi scheme, which is basically a scam where new investors, or members, are paid off with previous investors money. A good
Ponzi scheme can keep the scam going for a while as new money is always pouring in, but eventually it collapses because these systems are unsustainable.
Like any good Ponzi Scheme, HYIPs can catch fire quickly. Say investor One invests $2000 and a week later is given the promised 20% return of $200. Impressed, the investor not only adds more of his/her own money, but they tell some friends about it. It's easy to see how money can be accumulated in a short time, and how at the start some money will be paid out, but eventually the well dries up and investors are left with nothing.
It should more evident now than ever in these turbulent economic times that any sort of investment program guaranteeing double digit returns is rotten. If so many on Wall street and other esteemed investors are struggling to just stay above even, how can these HYIP programs not only guarantee a positive return, but an impressive positive return?
HYIP Websites
There are literally thousands of HYIP websites. I'm guessing they are constantly shutting down, moving, or popping up under new names. Plus, I suspect, a handful of individuals are responsible for numerous (if not hundreds) of websites or "fronts".
Here's a stanard HYIP website "Stoic Capital."
I just came across that one, but it has many common elements found in a HYIP website. They try hard to legitimize themselves by throwing around a lot of financial jargon. While it may sound impressive to a vulnerable person, it is ultimately useless and totally irrelevant. Here's a sentence taken from our friends at "Stoic Capital."
"Stoic understands that the fundamental basis for superlative secular returns is a primary understanding of "primary trends" in various markets."
See what I'm saying? This company tries really hard by even releasing an Annual Financial Report like all publicly traded companies do. It looked like garbage to me.
HYIP Reviews and Ranking Sites
HYIP review sites take the scam one step further. They represent themselves as objective third parties providing customers reviews or personal experiences for various HYIPs. So, a person interested but wary of HYIPs stumbles onto one of these review sites and sees that while many of the HYIP sites are indeed scams, a handful are legitimate. These HYIP review sites, in my opinion, exist solely to aid in the taking of people's money.
It's true, similar marketing techniques are used in many different industries, but there's a key difference. Take my site, Scam Review as an example. Yes, I do make money from advertisers. The difference isn't even that I try and provide honest reviews based on my personal experiences (which I do). No, the difference is, I'm not duping you into a flat out investment scam where you could really get into financial trouble. That's what these sites are doing and it's dangerous stuff.
The amount of effort that goes into fooling people still surprises me, and I've been in the game for a while! Some examples of these HYIP Review sites are:
http://www.hyiprogram.com/
http://www.hyipinvestment.com/
http://www.hyip.com/
http://www.hothyips.com/
http://www.hyipranks.com/
The Final Say On HYIP Programs
HYIP's are fraudulent. Please, avoid them completely. If everybody did, these scammers would be out of jobs.
