The most common set up of an HYIP Scam is the so-called "Ponzi scheme". The money that is invested into the program is used to pay returns to existing members. As long as the inflow of new money is there, reurns can be paid. When the inflow from new investors dries up return can not be paid anymore.
Investing in HYIP is associated with very high risk. The majority of the programs that are advertised are just Scams. We discourage you from investing in any program unless you are willing to lose the money you invest. A good way of looking at HYIP investments is to regard them as a lottery. Usually you lose, but if you win, there may be a handsome profit. In most HYIP monitors and HYIP forums, you can follow the progress of the programs available at the moment. There is also information about which programs are considered to be Scams, who are paying out money, which yields the historically have given and much more information. Here on our site you will find lots of information about how to avoid becoming a victim of Scams, should you decide to invest. Despite all the information available, it is impossible to guard yourself from losing money on HYIPs.
One of the best and easiest ways to check programs before investing is to visit the forums. Start with the program's own forum. Look at what the members attitude towards the program. Are there any problems? How does the admin tackle problems? Programs with forums where the negative posts are removed or not answered is a warning sign. You are looking for programs where the admin answers and solve problems when they arise.
General Forums such as TalkGold.com are good places to find information. Perhaps there is someone who personally met admin or received copies of identification documents and other important documents. Someone may know the admin from a previous program that cheated their investors. Any information you can get is good. It is of course up to you to judge if the information provided should be trusted or not.
If the program has its own domain name, a Whois check is a good idea. Go to nic.com and enter the address. Compare the results with the contact information found on the program's website (if any contact information is available). Make an assessment if you think the information is true. For example, if the registered phone number is 000-000-000, it is obviously false. But most of the time it is a little harder to see if it is true or not.
On this page www.infobel.com / teldir you can do searches on people throughout the world. On www.freeality.com you find many different options to search for information.
You can contact those running the program and ask questions. If it is a good program, they respond within a reasonable time. Examples of questions might be: how old is the program, how do they earn their money, if they can provide some proof of their trading activities and if they have any phone number you can call and talk to them personally.
Does the program spam? Then it is hardly an honest program! Avoid any program that sending junk mail.
Has the program been around as long as they claim? Often, claims are made that the program has existed much longer than it really has. If they have their own domain name, you can check how long it has been registered. Sometimes an old domain name is bought in order to create the notion that the program is older than it is. One way to check how a website looked like historically is to go to the Wayback Machine. Enter the domain name and click on "Take Me Back". You can see how the page looked like before. The Wayback Machine has archived pages since 1996.
There is a program called HYIPspy. You enter a keyword, such as the name of a HYIP, e-mail address or IP address. HYIPspy searches through thousands of Yahoo groups, MSN forums, e-gold lists, etc. for information. This may be a good tool when you want to check out a program.
Another source of information is newsletters and member pages. There are some good newsletter which makes it easier to keep track of everything going on in the HYIP world. Some charge to become a member but it may be worthwhile. E-Told is the most known and respected member service. You Get a daily newsletter which is full of news from the HYIP world, warnings, tips and reviews of the programs. You also get access to their newsletter archives, forum, list of known scammers e-gold account numbers, and so on. In addition, you can easily search their database for information about HYIPs you investigate.