A high-yield investment program (HYIP) is a type of Ponzi scheme, an investment scam that promises unsustainably high return on investment by paying previous investors with the money invested by new investors. Most of these scams work from anonymous offshore bases which make them hard to track down.
Mechanics
Operators generally set up a website offering an "investment program" which promises very high returns, such as 1% per day (3778% APY when returns are compounded every day), disclosing little or no detail about the underlying management, location, or other aspects of how money is to be invested. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) has said that "these fraudulent schemes involve the purported issuance, trading, or use of so-called 'prime' bank, 'prime' European bank or 'prime' world bank financial instruments, or other 'high yield investment programs.' (HYIP's) The fraud artists … seek to mislead investors by suggesting that well regarded and financially sound institutions participate in these bogus programs." In 2010, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) warned that "[t]he con artists behind HYIPs are experts at using social media — including YouTube, Twitter and Facebook — to lure investors and create the illusion of social consensus that these investments are legitimate."