what is a high yield investment program hyip 
a high yield investment program hyip is a fraudulent investment scheme that purports to deliver extraordinarily high returns on an investment hyips often advertise yields of more than 100 per year in order to tempt investors they regularly use new investors money to pay off long standing investors monies received in such schemes aren t actually invested hyips should not be confused with a legitimate high yield bond investment which offers higher than investment grade bond interest rates understanding a high yield investment programhyips are ponzi schemes the organizers of such schemes aim to steal the money provided by the investors that they deceive in a ponzi scheme money from new investors is used to pay returns to more established investors money is not invested and no actual underlying returns are ever earned though these types of ponzi schemes have existed since the early 20th century the proliferation of digital communications has made it much easier for con artists to operate such scams usually an operator will use social media and a website to attract unsuspecting investors promising very high returns however information about the investment itself remains vague investors will get no details about the management of the investment fund how the money is to be invested or where the fund is located these schemes typically involve the alleged trading or issuance of prime bank financial securities and may include references to prime european or prime world bank instruments for this reason this scam is also known as the prime bank scam 1the securities and exchange commission sec advises that there are several warning signs that can prevent investors from being victimized by hyip scams these can include excessive guaranteed returns fictitious financial instruments extreme secrecy claims that the investments are an exclusive opportunity and inordinate complexity surrounding the investments 23perpetrators of hyips use secrecy and a lack of transaction transparency to hide the fact that there are no legitimate underlying investments the best weapon against losing money to a hyip is to ask a lot of questions and use common sense if an investment s return sounds too good to be true it probably is hyip operators will typically use social media including facebook x formerly twitter or youtube to appeal to potential investors and create the illusion of social consensus surrounding the legitimacy of these programs example of a high yield investment programzeekrewards was a hyip run by paul burks and shut down by the sec in august 2012 zeekrewards offered investors the opportunity to share in the profits of a penny auction website zeekler at returns of 125 investors were encouraged to let their returns compound and to increase their returns by recruiting new members investors were required to pay a monthly subscription fee of 10 to 99 and make an initial investment of up to 10 000 4in 2017 the u s district court found that zeekrewards was a 900 million internet ponzi scheme about 98 of the funds disbursed were paid out of the pockets of new investors burks was fined 244 million and sentenced to 176 months in prison 5