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HYIP = Ponzi Scheme = Scam
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High Yield Investment Programs are nothing more than glorified Ponzi schemes meant to do one thing – separate you from your money in a clever and exciting way. Avoid these at all costs. Avoid the brainwashing. Avoid losing your money in a “get rich quick” scheme, they only get a handful of people rich – the creators of the scheme.
What is a Ponzi Scheme? In 1920, Charles Ponzi promised to double your money in 90 days. Guaranteed. His original scheme involved buying postage stamps in other countries and exchanging them for stamps here, earning a great rate of return as long as he could convert the stamps back into cash. He started a business, starting taking in investment money, and when he discovered his scheme was harder than it seemed, he was soon paying off earlier investors with the money from later investors – the classical pyramid scheme. Anyway, you can see where it goes.
Ever heard of 12 Daily Pro? You invest money to buy advertising credits, you autosurf the web (for seven minutes they show you a bunch of websites, 25 seconds each), and you earn a return on the advertising 12 Daily Pro earns. Sounds good right? Check out ABC4 and do a search for 12 Daily Pro and watch all the great expose videos.
Watch Boiler Room and pay very close attention to the poor guy that Giovanni Ribisi’s character gets to buy into the latest “hot stock.” Then watch as he gets him to buy in more after it goes down. Don’t be that guy.
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Scams abound. The old saying “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” is a very good yardstick for evaluating any investment “opportunity”. One of my pet hates is investments that offer a capital or income guarantee – in many cases the “guarantee” is used to artifically inflate the price you pay for theinvestment.
If you want a good read, Mitchell Zuckoff’s book “Ponzi’s Scheme” is quite entertaining and gives a bit of colour to one of history’s better known con artists.
Do not invest in HYIP with Alex Merklinger of Rowe New Mexico. He runs a ponzi sheme that doops investors of hundreds of thousands of dollars. He is at large now however the FBI will be arresting him soon after he is sued in District court in Colorado. This person is considered a menice to your bank account. He even admits to stealing the money.
I am constantly amazed that these scams continue to be successful (for the scammers, not the participants). Behold the power of greed…
I get spammed these in my forums constantly and then the people spamming them will argue haow they got paid so it must be legitimate. A constant battle that doesN7t look like it will be ending soon
The classical pyramid scheme seems to continue to lure people into losing their money. The scheme comes in all shapes and sizes but the bottom line is, if they are not selling a product or service then run away. Greed is nasty for the scammers and the scammed.