Miss Gullible

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A Ponzi scheme is defined as “a swindle in which a quick return, made up of money from new investors, on an initial investment lures the victim into much bigger risks.” and “An investment swindle in which high profits are promised from fictitious sources and early investors are paid off with funds raised from later ones.”

These are also referred to as HYIPS or High Yield Investment Programs. HYIPS will nearly always claim that they are not Ponzis and that they actually make money from other sources such as arbitrage and trading. I am yet to come across one that is not a Ponzi.

One example of how Miss Gullible has been scammed by a HYIP is with Minvestment.com. This “company” promised a high return on a low investment. I researched the website on Hyip-navigator.com, which claims to be an independent reviewer. I thought it was more reliable than other sources as the website are reviewed by users, so should be more truthful. Minvestment had great reviews and as I read them I realised that people were being paid. I felt hope!

To invest in a HYIP was particularly foolish of me, as there is no work required and high return promised, so that should be enough of a giveaway. The trouble was it looked so professional and there were so many good reviews that I was soon lured in and I invested $150.

Everyday I would log into my account and the money had grown. It was exciting, especially as I was still reading good reviews. This is how HYIPS get people to invest more money. They have good results with small amounts of money; so they invest more and inevitable lose it all.

My money was invested in a 150 day compounding account. That meant that I couldn’t withdraw the money until after 150 days, when it would have grown a lot. People who had invested into the daily account (where you can withdraw a small amount into your e-gold account each day) were being paid, so I felt good.

It was nearing the end of the 150 days and I was still checking the reviews. I noticed there were a few irate reviewers with comments like “still waiting to be paid” and “scam alert”. I immediately felt that familiar feeling in the pit of my stomach. Had I been fooled again?

The number of bad reviews were increasing daily and I realised no one was being paid after their 150 days compounding. What an idiot I had been?

This HYIP was still on hyipnavigator.com on the best HYIP list even with all those bad reviews. Of course the HYIP review websites rely on HYIPs to continue their business. There are some on the black list, but many have good reviews.

When you think about it, of course the HYIP would pay the reviewers like Hyip-navigator.com. They want to get the good reviews.

I know how easy it is to get sucked into a HYIP, especially if they do pay you once or twice, but please, please don’t do it! You will only lose your money. Minvestment.com no longer exists. It closed down, under it’s own weight with everyone’s money and this was not an isolated incident. I would not be surprised if the owners of that website have already set up another.

Even if you do get paid you are effectively stealing from someone less fortunate, as there is no way a HYIP can continue for long.

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