{"id":532,"date":"2009-06-23T14:00:06","date_gmt":"2009-06-23T22:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/?p=532"},"modified":"2009-07-09T11:54:24","modified_gmt":"2009-07-09T19:54:24","slug":"hippy-eye-ay-wtf-is-a-hyip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/2009\/06\/hippy-eye-ay-wtf-is-a-hyip\/","title":{"rendered":"Hippy-eye-ay &#8211; WTF is a HYIP?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wikipedia.org\/hyip\">Wikipedia<\/a>, a High Yield Investment Program (aka HYIP) is &#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A <strong>high-yield investment program (HYIP)<\/strong> is a type of <a title=\"Ponzi scheme\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ponzi_scheme\">Ponzi scheme<\/a>, which is an investment <a class=\"mw-redirect\" title=\"Scam\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Scam\">scam<\/a> that promises an unsustainably high <a class=\"mw-redirect\" title=\"Return on investment\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Return_on_investment\">return on investment<\/a> by paying previous investors with the money invested by newcomers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Ok, yet another scam &#8211; so what?<\/p>\n<p>Well, there&#8217;s a few spam emails going about currently that sounds like a big one. People will get hurt so it&#8217;s my duty to warn you all!<\/p>\n<p>Spam like this one:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Hello,<\/p>\n<p>I would like to introduce the Investment Committee.<br \/>\nI represent Prosperity Organization that is committed to provide with  life changing returns and services. Investment programs can bring you no risk<br \/>\ninterest to pay of your mortgage<\/p>\n<p>If you are interested, please visit: <a class=\"moz-txt-link-freetext\" href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/bevetutabykax90\/message\/1\">http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/bevetutabykax90\/message\/1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>[OR: Ed.]\u00c2\u00a0 <a class=\"moz-txt-link-freetext\" href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/lohywejyfolyd12\/message\/1\">http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/lohywejyfolyd12\/message\/1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>[OR EVEN: Ed.] <a class=\"moz-txt-link-freetext\" href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/fujuxoryfymyg58\/message\/1\">http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/fujuxoryfymyg58\/message\/1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Regards,<br \/>\nModerator<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/fujuxoryfymyg58-message-taximetu.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-533\" title=\"fujuxoryfymyg58-message-taximetu\" src=\"http:\/\/www.scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/fujuxoryfymyg58-message-taximetu-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"fujuxoryfymyg58-message-taximetu\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One thing they all have in common is a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/fujuxoryfymyg58-message-taximetu.jpg\">Yahoo Groups Page<\/a> as a jump point to the real scammer&#8217;s page <a href=\"http:\/\/sdhfiweof.com\/\">http:\/\/sdhfiweof.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">One thing about working in the IT industry for so long (especially working with email systems) has taught me is <strong>NEVER BUY PRODUCTS\/SERVICES MARKETED BY SPAM<\/strong>, especially if<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li> you get several copies of the same spam<\/li>\n<li>especially if they mention &#8216;God&#8217;<\/li>\n<li>especially if the website owner claims to be from your town, but the domain name\/website is registered\/hosted in Hong Kong<\/li>\n<li>ESPECIALLY if the website offers an &#8216;Affiliate Program&#8217; (ie, they let you do the spamming for them!).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>These jokers fit all of the above. Here&#8217;s a Pic of their site:<a href=\"http:\/\/www.scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/hyip-self-made-millionare.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-536\" title=\"hyip-self-made-millionare\" src=\"http:\/\/www.scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/hyip-self-made-millionare-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"hyip-self-made-millionare\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/hyip-self-made-millionare-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/hyip-self-made-millionare.jpg 910w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now, I&#8217;m sure that there is a God-fearing lady called Marta, and there may even be one in Baltimore with two kids, but I&#8217;m absolutely certain that this isn&#8217;t her. It&#8217;s much more likely to be\u00c2\u00a0<span id=\"registrar_whois\"> <\/span><tt>Fred Milto (FredMilto@gmail.com), a \"Private Person\" in New York, 10017 - at least that's who the domain name is registered to.<\/tt><\/p>\n<p>Of course, Fred (Aka Marta) may not be the owner of this mess &#8211; they&#8217;re likely to be affiliates and the real scammers ground zero are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.who.is\/whois\/cherryshares.com\/\">CherryShares.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Anyway, I don&#8217;t have the time or the resources to investigate this one further, but if anyone knows more or has tried this particular scam, let me know.<\/p>\n<p>The FTC and others have been issuing warnings for years about this scam &#8211; here&#8217;s one just in case you still don&#8217;t believe me <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sec.gov\/divisions\/enforce\/primebank.shtml\">From the SEC<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>and here&#8217;s a snippet<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; font-size: x-small;\">Signs of Banking-Related Investment Fraud<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; font-size: x-small;\">Below are warning signs of prime bank or other fraudulent bank-related investment schemes. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; font-size: x-small;\"><strong>Excessive Guaranteed Returns<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; font-size: x-small;\">These fraudulent investment pitches typically offer or guarantee spectacular returns of 20 to 200 percent monthly, absolutely risk free. Promises of unrealistic returns at no risk are hallmarks of prime bank fraud. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; font-size: x-small;\">I was alerted to a website called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hyipexplorer.com\">HYIPExplorer<\/a> (http:\/\/www.hyipexplorer.com), who acknowledge that HYIPs are high risk investments but with high potential returns. They know there are a lot of scammers out there and provide a forum for people to rate and investigate these notoriously mercurial entities. If you are ever convinced to try HYIPs, please visit them and do A LOT OF RESEARCH BEFORE SENDING ANYONE ANY MONEY!!!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hyipexplorer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hyipexplorer.com\/button.gif\" border=\"0\" width=\"88\" height=\"31\" alt=\"HYIPexplorer - High Yield Investment Program - HYIP Rating - The premier HYIP monitoring service!\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to Wikipedia, a High Yield Investment Program (aka HYIP) is &#8230; A high-yield investment program (HYIP) is a type of Ponzi scheme, which is an investment scam that promises an unsustainably high return on investment by paying previous investors with the money invested by newcomers. Ok, yet another scam &#8211; so what? Well, there&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,10,20,25,115],"tags":[116,117],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":535,"href":"https:\/\/scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions\/535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scamdex.com\/ScamBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}