HYIP Investment Glory Hunt

[kef4o]

So, this my plan to get rich quick by doing nothing.

I have decided to change my gambling activities(for a while) with HYIP investments since it is the end of the season. I will start with a small bank and try to track down some nice HYIP investment website from the listed: (links removed) I believe this is total gambling and many websites will be total fraud but since most of them have $1-$20 minimum deposit requirements, I will have at least a couple of tries before losing my bank(which should be a bit more than $60). I don't expect high yield returns but I just want to try something else and since I can afford to spend 50 euro on this, I'll give it a shot. I do not recommend anybody to follow me on this, at least for now. There are some seriously redicilious percentages that are being claimed like daily 600%(1 full week returns $279936 from $1). But there are also other websites that claim lower and probably realistic returns, and have overall positve responses. I will mostly give a try on the websites that have set their minimum deposit at $1.

Roll on the "financial freedom" days!

[dudeman99]

No offence, it is your money to do with as you want, but why HYIPs? It's a scammers wet dream out there, and even the best ones tend to suddenly take the money and run. I wouldn't touch any of them with a twenty foot pole.

Why not lay Derby for the remaining EPL games for a guaranteed return instead?

[kef4o]

Well, I'm gonna try this in a way that similar to betting. You are right, probably most of them are scammers. But I am gonna use the hit and run strategy: I will be putting almost everywhere the minimum deposit, and hope to get at least the first return. Afterwards, I will be "playing with the bookies' money". There is a strategy about selecting too, which I will not really follow. It involves getting Hyip programs at their start as they seem to pay out then. Well, I have decided that I will spread my bank on several HYIPs and will put on many types and try to build a path of betting. Obviously, I am hoping on at least one return. However, it is really dangerous and I feel I'm betting on the worst horse from 20. Wiki's article on the topic starts with something like: HYIPs are a type of online scams that... But I have made the decision to give it a try, and I will follow it.

[cluelessG]

Good luck with that and keep us posted!

[garyfinny]

How do the HYIP schemes generate the cash in order to pay their clients such massive returns on their investment?

Most of their websites hint at some sort of semi-legal loophole regarding some sort of multi-dimensional hedge on oil futures or some other bollocks.

A lot claim to have millions of dollars invested, and yet they have a website that a five-year old could put together.

The truth is that these sites make money off gullible people. Sure, you'll put your one dollar down, and they'll happily pay you 1% a day on that. The site gets good reviews upon good review until some sucker comes in and puts down US 10,000 and then they'll disappear.

Don't waste your cash.

[Pobby]

What's a HYIP?

[AJ]

High Yield investment program

Better flushing your money down the toilet

High-yield investment program

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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A High-Yield Investment Program (HYIP) is a type of scam. At one time, it was used to refer to an investment program which may have offered a high return on investment. The term "HYIP" was abused by the operators of scams to camouflage their scams as legitimate investments. Due to this overuse by the operators, HYIP has become synonymous with scam or Ponzi scheme. The usage of the term has evolved to refer to a kind of Ponzi scheme that recruits "investors" through the Internet.

[edit] Overview

HYIP operators generally setup a website offering an "investement program" with returns as high as 45% per month that discloses little or no detail about the underlying management, location, or other aspects of how money is to be invested because no money is invested. They often use vague explanations, asserting little more than that they do different types of trading on various stock markets or exchanges to generate the returns they purport. The SEC has said the following on the matter: "These fraudulent schemes involve the purported issuance, trading, or use of so-called 'prime' bank, 'prime' European bank or 'prime' world bank financial instruments, or other 'high yield investment programs.' ('HYIP's) The fraud artists... seek to mislead investors by suggesting that well regarded and financially sound institutions participate in these bogus programs."^[1]
Some investigators believe that the majority of HYIPs are Ponzi schemes, in which new participants provide the cash to pay a profit into existing investors' accounts. However, as there are no formal statistics available about the HYIP sector, much of the material in this article is based on anecdote and conjecture.
HYIPs are able to succeed in collecting large sums of money for the operators because the initial payoff to first and second round participants helps the scam to continue spreading by word of mouth as long as new participants are found and/or old participants leave their money in the scheme in hopes of gaining interest on their principal payment. Participants are usually presented some form of an appeal to emotion or faith that the HYIP will help them achieve quick financial freedom.^[2] HYIPs may also mirror Pyramid Schemes by offering current investors incentive commissions, for example 9% of current investment, to recruit new investors.
The introduction of e-currencies in the late 1990s made it possible for HYIPs to operate on the Internet and across international boundaries, and to accept large numbers of small payments. HYIPs usually accept payments by either e-currency, like e-gold, and INTGold (now defunct), or use specialist third party payment processors like AlertPay, SolidTrustPay, CEPTrust, TriStarMoneyChangers and StormPay.
The largest documented HYIP scam was OSGold, founded as an e-gold imitation in 2001 by David Reed. OSGold folded in 2002. According to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in early 2005, the operators of OSGold may have made off with USD $250 million^[3].
CNet reported that:

At the height of its popularity, the OSGold currency boasted more than 60,000 accounts created by people drawn to promises of "high yield" investments that would provide guaranteed monthly returns of 30 percent to 45 percent.^[4]

The second largest documented HYIP was PIPS (People in Profit System or Pure Investors).^[5][6] The investment scheme was started by Bryan Marsden in early 2004, according to the Wayback Machine record of pureinvestor.com, and spanned more than 20 countries. PIPS was investigated by Bank Negara Malaysia in 2005 which resulted in Marsden and his wife being charged in a Malaysian court with 97 counts of money laundering more than 77 million RM, equivalent to $20 million.^[7] Even after these charges were brought forth, many of Marsden's followers and investors continued to support him and believe they would see their money in the future. This type of rationalization and denial can often be seen on many HYIP forums.

[edit] HYIP games

As a result of online forums and monitoring sites which have made HYIP investors more aware of their nature, some HYIP operaters promote their programs as a "ponzi-structured game" where one should "not invest money one cannot afford to lose", and where there is "never a guarantee of earnings or refunds". They promise to pay out up to, for example, 95% of deposits, the rest going to hosting or other fees and the owner's profit.
In such "games", the first participants ("investors") may make a good profit and are encouraged to refer other people to the program because of referral commission, the fact that they have already made back their principal and are playing with profit, and that the more people who deposit money, the more money can be paid out to participants. In theory, strategies can be developed to maximize profit using these games (but, of course, since this is a zero-sum game, such strategies work by taking advantage of ignorance or errors by others). Some forum users may gain a reputation whereby others will trust their word that they have been able to withdraw their profits, encouraging others to invest in the hopes that more will invest after them and that they can therefore make a profit. As these games are by definition Ponzi schemes, it is inevitable that the vast majority of participants who are not at the top of the pyramid will lose their money.
These "games" might be considered as lotteries. However, the odds of winning cannot be determined, as one cannot know whether one is playing early enough to win money (that is, whether a sufficient number of new participants will follow). Thus, these activities are unlike a lottery or other forms of regulated gambling, where a participant has an equal chance of winning no matter when a ticket is bought, or where the odds of the game are known.
HYIP programs generally appeal to the same kind of person who is attracted to gambling. Like gambling, HYIP "games" are a way of separating the participant from his money, while offering a small chance of making a profit. This accounts for their rapid proliferation.

[edit] HYIP participants

As can be readily determined from perusing various HYIP monitor forums, a large number of HYIP participants continue to participate in new schemes after they have already lost money in schemes that folded. The fact that most of the programs are labelled "scams" on the HYIP monitor boards (see below) suggests that many of the participants are aware of the risk and know that most HYIP's are fraudulent but choose to put money in the programs anyway. This kind of irrational risk-taking behavior is typical of gambling addicts.

[edit] HYIP monitors

HYIP monitors, or HYIP listing/rating sites, are personal or commercial websites that list and/or promote HYIPs for referral commissions. The monitor charges each HYIP a listing fee which is usually then invested into that program, although there exist free listings and occasionally monitors which invest their own money. The monitor then labels the HYIP as "Paying" or "Not paying/Scam" depending on whether interest is received within the terms specified by the program. Monitors also allow other HYIP investors to rate and comment on the programs, based on factors such as promptness of payouts and responsiveness of the HYIP administrator. Programs with higher ratings achieve higher rankings on the monitor sites, which coupled with a "Paying" status may entice more investors who rely on the monitor.
In some cases, HYIPs may only pay monitor sites to keep their "Paying" status visible, but do not pay other investors. As HYIP monitors are not affiliated with the HYIPs themselves, they are unable to prevent investors from being scammed; they neither help to recover lost funds nor track down the scammers. Promoting or perpetuating Ponzi schemes is a criminal offense punishable by jail terms or fines in most countries. That the monitor sites place disclaimers saying that they "do not promote the programs advertised on their website" does not absolve them from criminal liability.
In order to generate a "paying" status early (so that future visitors will see it) and maintain it for the longest possible time, newly opened HYIPs list their site quickly as well as constantly pay monitors their interest on time. Added to the fact that many monitors invest the listing "fee", and that a commission is received on each deposit made by people who visit the HYIP via the monitor, they are the most likely to profit when a program runs out of funds.
HYIP owners can manipulate monitors and forums, by paying people to comment positively or by using a range of IP addresses or proxy servers in different locations so that "paying" votes appear to come from around the world. This allows the HYIP to rise up the rankings more quickly than others, giving participants a false sense of security. Additionally, even if they know it will scam in the future, some participants will also rate new HYIPs positively until the HYIP stops paying, because they want more people to invest after them in the hopes that the program will last longer. Future scammers can also build up a good reputation on forums for a large payoff once most forum members trust them.
The problem is seen as many monitors appear only to make certain programs more acceptable and trustworthy.

[edit] Mechanics

Though Ponzi and HYIP schemes have thrived and multiplied since at least the early 1900's, the combination of the Internet and Electronic Money has played an important role in the rapid growth of HYIP's in the first decade of the 21st century. Like many businesses with a narrow niche market, the Internet has enabled HYIP scammers to find a global market of people who demonstrate by their behavior that they "want to be scammed". Somewhat similar to the poor person who spends a large percentage of his income on lotto tickets in hopes of striking it rich, HYIP participants invest money in a "company" in a foreign country that offers returns that are "too good to be true", that publishes no verifying information, and has no way of being held accountable.
The use of digital payments systems has made it much easier for operators of such websites to accept payments from people worldwide^[8]. Electronic Money systems are generally accepted by HYIP operators because that is the only payment system to which they have access. Obviously, acceptance of credit cards and ACH would give them access to a far larger pool of prospective victims, but the difficulty of opening a merchant processing account while hiding their identity prevents them from doing so. Since digital money systems generally don't issue credit and don't earn interest on their client accounts, they often do not perform investigation of their merchant clients, as a bank typically does.
Once the HYIP operator has received the payment, it is difficult and costly to track them down across several national borders. This would be the case regardless of whether regular banks or electronic money was used.
While some HYIP operators exploited this weakness, several digital currency companies responded by taking measures to discourage their system from being used for HYIPs. Certain HYIP operators, such Elwyn Jenkins opened digital currency companies serving the HYIP niche. Examples of payment systems started by HYIP operators that eventually folded include Standard Reserve, OSGold, INTGold, EvoCash and most recently EMO Corp^[9]. StormPay was started in the same way in 2002, but has remained in business even though the HYIP that is was created to serve was shut down by the State of Tennessee^[10].
The preference of HYIP operators for e-gold may be due to the fact that other digital currencies run by HYIP operators that catered to the HYIP niche (see above), have folded, as the operators have made off with the deposits. That is to say, HYIP operators don't trust each other, but with over 12 years of stability, e-gold has proved its merit as a reliable medium of payment.
HYIPs have often been started under the guise of companies. Some have gone so far as to actually incorporate their company in countries with lax fraud laws. Due to these locations, operators may be effectively immune to normal laws that would protect a consumer in that consumer's country. The operators have been known to host their website with a webhost that offers "anonymous hosting". They will use this website to accept transactions from participants in the scheme.^[11] The HYIP scam may also create sites which employ spamdexing or other adversarial information retrieval techniques in order to attract potential victims by creating an impression that the company has done no wrong. HYIP Monitors are one such example.
Due to the fact that the amount of money "lost" by a given HYIP participant is generally quite small, and that the nature of the scam is relatively obvious, government task forces on Internet crime do not generally give them high priority.

[edit] Rationalizations

Often HYIPs will claim that they make money through non-existent yet plausible means, playing to people's gullibility or ignorance on the subject. In the case of the prime bank scam, many people were led to believe that they were buying banknotes in a clandestine organization called prime bank. Other HYIP scams claim that they use special software or algorithms that have the ability to forecast markets in order to make money.^[12]

[edit] Social aspects

HYIPs generally appeal to emotions of investors who are looking for quick cash. Unfortunately, often those who play become part of the scam. They are encouraged to promote it in order to receive payment on their investment. In this aspect, it mirrors a Pyramid scheme in that users must recruit others in order to profit.

[kef4o]

HYIP is short for High Yield Investment Plan. Thanks for the advice of leaving this alone. Technically, the overall situation doesn't look too good. Apart from having actual HYIPs, I also have the chance of a pure scam. I couldn't really separate the HYIPs from the absolute scams. Only people who haven't searched for that, wouldn't know how many of these are out there. I'm getting a bit of trouble getting that e-gold tbh, so things still staying at the same place. So here is the good place to mention that e-gold is the total sh1t when it comes to e-currency. I am not really sure how am I gonna withdraw if I actually get a return, since the exchange rates are horrible. So let's put it together: I am betting on the worst horse, I have at least a 50/50 chance that it gets withdrawn before the race, but according to some stupid rule of the bookie the bet is not void but lost. And on top of that the bookie might charge me an enormous commision. I have taken it all into account, and have decided to try my luck anyways, because...I am curious and I think that an investment in betting will eventually bring me to same place HYIPs will. So it's just satisfying my curiuosity.

[kef4o]

It wasn't really necessary to cpy this cuz I already mentioned it. Thanks for all the feedback everybody but it is really a mere experiment with money I can afford to lose. So this will be my first investment:

I found this by accident, and it is this that caught my eye first. I am going to put $20 in this for 30 days expecting daily 10%. Plus is that this is the only site that says: regardless of the trading results we guarantee you a minimal daily income of 5% provided by the ever-growing reserve fund. They have some nice data like SD(starting date) 25.10.2006, total withdraw $ 51,383,652.03. On the bad side, this HYIP is not monitored by any ratings site. What they claim, if put in numbers would be seriuosly ridicilous: $20 invested for 30 days would return at least a total of 150%. So a let it ride incestment for one year would see me at at least $2594. the hope here is to have a normal first month take my $20 back and reinvest the profit of $40.

[dudeman99]

Good luck with this! That's why they call it a glory hunt, isn't it?

I suppose if you are able to hit and run a few times you could make a profit. As long as your initial investment turns out OK from then on you will be playing with other peoples cash.

[AJ]

I've removed the link to this site, and moved this thread from Gc to glory hunters.

Please don't post links to these site, name them if you want, but no links.

[kef4o]

I'm sorry if I broke any forum rules by posting the link. As I opened this thread I really wasn't sure where is its place because it is a glory hunt but one that has nothing to do with the others.

Thanks for the support clueless and dudeman. I will post when I make my first investment which may be next week.

[kef4o]

Ok, it is done, my first deposit that is. After many stupid things happening at the same time I ended up with a deposit of 30 instead of 50 euro and after fees etc. I now have $40 and some cents, a sum which should be around 26,50 euro. I put $20 in Global Investment. Now I need to wait for the first earning of $2, and so for 30 days. I will deposit the other part of the bank tomorrow as I need to study now, plus I need to make some desicions where how much to stick.

Note to self: They work 24/7, 10 hours behind GMT. I have read that this should be illegal in the U.S.

[kef4o]

So I added 4 further HYIPs:
1. First HYIP claims a 150% return after 20 days. I'm waiting for my $1.50 after 3 weeks.
2. Stuck $5 dollars for a single 1 day 120% return...too much, but this was the minimum
3. An absolute fun bet of $2 for 2800% return
4. A $2 investment for daily 20% return for 7 days.

So let's do a summary:
Initial investment: 30 euro
Bank after fees: $40.62(not sure for the exact sum but it was 40 full dollars)
Current bank: $10.55
Total bets: 5
Return: 0


Note to self: I technically buy gold so any price fluctuations are reflected on my balance.

[kef4o]

We have registered first return, and first almost sure loss. The fun bet is almost surely gone, too bad it was $2, no response to e-mails whatsoever, money isn't added to my account on their site. But on the other side the site that gives 20% daily for 7 days has paid the first payment of $0.40, so it is not too bad.

Further three programs added:
1. A supposedly russian site that pays 21% hourly for 5 hours, well it says that I have $0.63 in my account(I have a $1 deposit), but I will confirm it after I make my first withdrawal.
2. Another 120% return site, this time with a deposit of $1.
3. Lowest return so far @ 102,5%, interesting to see how will they give me half a cent

Starting bank: 30 euro
Current bank: $7.96
8 running bets

[kef4o]

Another site that pays is the one that pays technically 105% every 5 hours. Although my withdrawal is pending(takes upto 12 business hours to retrieve it) I have put in a second investment worth $1.05, I hope to generate some decent compunding upto the point where I have gathered $1 net profit, and invest the net profit only.

As for the other investments...nothing yet.

[kef4o]

I don't think it's such a bad start really. I seem to I have found only 1 scam out of 8 programs so far, which is a farily good strike rate. If I invest on two other places that pay, I will have 90% strike rate at odds of 1.1-1.2, or in other words, in profit. I am generating 105% every 5 hours from the supposedly russian site, which from now on I will refer to with its name: GFFfunds. Also, my first investment pays(Global investment). Good thing about it is that I will be able to invest again when I gather $20, or, put in time bounderies, 10 days from the time of initial investment(I thought I had to wait a full month). And with KLP invest having paid first(20% for 7 days), I at laest know, I'm not out yet. And I am happy to see that the other big bet has paid out too. This is at a site called Washington Golden Fund company and they have paid me 120% on my $5. Bad thing is that e-gold are like betfair and I am paying commision as well(fee for incoming transactions). For $6 I paid $0.18 in fees, so I have made a reinvestment of $5.82 to keep the same initial bet. Waiting on the other sites to honour their liabilities, and being positive about it.

Summary: 1 bet lost, 4 winning(so far), 3 pending(and they are supposed to be still pending at the time I am writing this)

Current bank: $7.90(in e-gold account) + $4.15 in the bookies' accounts=$12.05
ROI: 0.29%(I will take $40.62 as the initial investment figure)

[kef4o]

I'm done. Bank is fully invested. 11 HYIPS, 3 scams already, could have been better but as a first timer in this I was bound to make some bad desisions. So far the stats are these:




Starting bank: $40.62(fully invested)
Current bank: $4.15 (money I should be able to withdraw right now)
Active deposits*: $34.15 (reinvestments aren't double counted, just the net profit is added)
Losses due to scams: $8.06
Active bets: 8 from 11
Strike rate: 72%
Expected net return in the next 24 hours: approx. $5.11

By the end of the week I should be able to get back my initial stake from some of the HYIPs. The goal is to get my 30 euro back in a month and paying for the transaction costs.

*Active deposits are the deposits I currently have in my accounts but can't withdraw.

[kef4o]

Just like in some Discovery Channel film, I have seen the re- and devolution of HYIP scams. One of the HYIPs I had written off because the site was "updating", came back from the dead. The site that was supposed to pay 105% in 5 hours has added more time required, and the same program is gone through 6 hours, and today even has drifted out to 10 hours for 105%. in other words, it needs twice the time to pay the same amount. Well, there is an improvement as well. The maximum amount for a single Active Deposit(one I am gaining interest on but cannot withdraw until... well in this case 10 hours) has risen from $20 to $100. Not too useful though as you can make multiple deposits. The admin has put my money ($1.33 ) in a different and mor stupid program, paying 10% daily for 15 days. And the fcuker has put another program today, or yesterday, a better program that pys 11% for 15 days. I'm not investing any further than my $1.06 anyway(6 cent are transaction costs, which I incurred while trying to see whetherthe HYIP is legit). Another one has made a heavy improvement. From a total of 120% daily to a total of 130% daily. And it has paid me for 2 days now. After another 3 days I'm expecting to withdraw mt $1 and pay for the transcation costs, in other words starting retrieving my money. I have to stress the fact that the improvement was made in order to draw more interest since there are a total of 2 investors I think, with me being the one.

[kef4o]

I needed some time to come up with an idea on how to present my results and I am sorry for that. I think this is rather good way to present the current data. I will try to update on a daily basis. Here is the legend:
Name of HYIP: name of the iste I have invested. The sites listed are paying until further notice.
Selected programs: What investment plan have I chosen.
Date started: the date the HYIP site has started operating.
Initial deposit: This is the money I have put in "from my own pocket".
Current deposit: The deposit I am currently gaining interest on, overall it is bigger due to compounding,
Gross profit and Net profit are respectively the total I will get and the pure profit I will get, both in the next 24 hours.
Withdrawable balance: Sums I can withdraw to my e-gold account. They are not reinvested due to certain minimum investment requirements.

Name of HYIP	Selected programs	Date started	Initial deposit	Current deposit	Gross profit in 24 hours	Net profit in 24 hours	Withdrawable balance
Global Investment Inc.	30 days, 10% daily	25.10.2006	$20