I happen to disagree with Curt. A HYIP (high yield investment program) is an investment program that is higher than your average investment vehicles. The problem is that 99% of them are fakes. They really aren’t investment programs, instead they are ponzi schemes. Because of the ponzi schemes, the term HYIP has gotten a bad reputation.

However, there are some real, legitimate HYIPs, although the legitimate ones hate that terminology due to the name’s association with ponzis. A real program is one that takes deposits, uses the money outside of the program to generate a profitable revenue and then returns a profit to the members.

Ponzi schemes on the other hand takes deposits, takes more deposits and returns a profit to the first members from the later deposits. They must continually have new deposits and members in order to pay out earlier ones. Eventually, the payouts out pace the deposits and the scheme collapses. Scammers shut the scheme down long before they owe more than they’ve received. The scammers will also do and say anything in order to keep the scheme going for as long as possible. “Investing in Forex” is one of the most common lies.

Unfortunately, the length of time that a program has been running is not a good indicator. There have been some big ponzis that lasted 18-24 months or more!

A couple of months ago I compiled a list of ponzi scheme indicators. The article is “Ponzi Scheme - Pond Scum.” I’ve heard from several people that it has helped them spot the scum. By the way, a 2.2% daily interest is too high for any legitimate program. A high ROI is one of the biggest indicators.

The confirmation that OpenTrade and ITrade4U were run by the same scammers was from the scammers themselves. The second link in the article was to one of their sites for sale, where they boasted about the programs they’ve run. (I’m sure it isn’t even a complete list!) Unfortunately, the information is no longer at the link. However, someone at the MMG thread (first link) has the information copied in a comment.

As for your question about are there any legitimate high yield programs, you’re welcome to email me. I know of three. I’d be glad to tell you about them, however they are all closed to new members until at least next week. That should give you time to investigate them first. You should always investigate a program before putting in money in them. It’s better to be informed, than it is to be blind.

JMO,
Sharon

“However, these people in this article and other HYIP scammers do not actually do any forex trading. They lie and say that they do. (There are some HYIP programs that do real forex trading and these are not scammers.)”

So how on earth is anyone supposed to determine the legit from the fake? Or is there even any that ARE ACTUALLY legit? Is there any HYIP that anyone knows of that has been around for say….10 years?

There is 10% of traders who are capable of making a profit all the time. Its rare one of these traders start up an own program to “share” their profits tough.

With all this fuss about e-gold and blocking certain accounts, I wonder do they block scammers accounts?

Wordpress automatically filters comments to catch spammers. Just like email filters, it sometimes catches real comments. The filter sends the comments to moderation. From there we look to see if it is real or spam. If it is real, we approve it. That’s why comments sometimes don’t show up until we’re logged on and can do the approval. As you can see, your comment shows now.

- Sharon

Sorry about that! I changed the article to thank you. (Yesterday seems to be my day for mistakes! LOL)

I’m not quite sure what you mean by “so much forex negativity”, though. I’m not negative about forex. People who learn the ends and outs of forex and can make a profit from trading do quite well for themselves! While I personally don’t have the stomach for it, I applaud those that can do forex trading profitably. However, these people in this article and other HYIP scammers do not actually do any forex trading. They lie and say that they do. (There are some HYIP programs that do real forex trading and these are not scammers.) I am negative about scammers! They infuriate me.

I agree that the possibility exists that some HYIP forums work with these crooks and would get paid handsomely for it. You can rest assured that Jude is NOT one of them. None of the NoBS sites, solely owned by Jude, work with scammers in any way. In addition, Jude would never sell or give IP addresses or email addresses to anyone. I have been working closely with Jude for well over a year and have complete faith in his trustworthiness.

JMO,
Sharon

Simon, Great Post!! Hopefully some people will save their money and some heartache by staying away from these scammers.

Curt, Yes, I do remember your DD information. I should have included it. I was just so angry when I posted this article, that I forgot. I’m really glad that you added your link here. Thank you for all that you do!

JMO,
Sharon

This shows how they are all connected

I got suckered in once, and made the decision that instead of trying to win it back on hyips, I would accept that it just won’t happen - unless you are willing to be a bit devious yourself (TAS for example), by referring those who know no better etc.

Bottom line, if you aren’t going to be proactive in your approach to making money, you aren’t going to succeed. There are of course some exceptions, but in the main they involve those who have already made large amounts, and can put it to work for them in secure environments. At least the newest craze of forex trading means its up to you how you perform, although at least 90% of people are going to fail - I know I don’t have the long term discipline to trade like that - do you?

Anything that is public, accepts e-gold, and returns anything more than 15% a month will usually not make you any money for whatever reason. And many more will fail even if they meet those criteria. You either have to realise that you’re the one who has to put the effort in when trying to succeed online (either individually, or by teaming up with others), or that you shouldn’t try and put your cash into online endeavours.

That’s just the way the people who run these hyip rings do it - they have a goal, they actively work towards it, and they succeed. Ok, so they are dishonest, which will probably eventually catch up with them, but the point is they actually DO something.

When are you going to start to do something too?

Cocky group of BASTARDS and low-life SCUM-BAGS !

Hope we will find some way to counter them and spot them in the future……..

>: (

But it’s good to dust it off now and then for the benefit of those still new to HYIP. Nice little wake-up call! LOL!