Bitcoin Forum

I have a question for people.  So HYIP are constantly starting up, and people keep calling them scams.  First, you have to know what you are getting into, so is it really a scam? 

IF someone made a ponzi/HYIP, and stated simply that this is a game, and you are not promised to win anything, as a matter of fact you might lose all of your investment, would people still play it?  I am thinking they would, and still call the maker a scam.  Just curious about this, might make this into a poll to see how people feel about it.

Well it's a dishonest scheme to return money.

dictionary.com defines it as:

a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, especially for making a quick profit

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The owner gets a profit after there are enough investors. I'd say that we can say something is a scam if there isn't going to be a return of your original money at the very least.

People who start ponzi's do state that you are not promised to win anything, and to only invest what you can afford to lose... so basically most ponzi's start out paying out to recruit more investors, but the gambling factor is figuring out when the creator of the game is going to pull out and take everyones bitcoins away.  Fun in some cases, but really annoying...

Newbies who suck the faucets tits all day and manage to scrummage .001 bitcoin SHOULDN'T put it in HYIP programs... if people find out about a ponzi that is just starting up and believe that they are in it for a short term and not immediate pull out, then I guess they should invest... I mean hell, some times I do just to try to make a quick double and not play any more.  It's truly a 50/50 with these sites.

the problem with it being called a scam is because the admins are running away with a small pot...

This isn't always the case, granted it happens.  A lot of times a ponzi fails because of math, and the site owner isn't running away with anything.  The whole idea is person 1 puts money in, person 2 puts money in and doubles person 1, now person 3 and 4 have to put in to cover person 2.  You can see how quickly this will fail, my example is people putting the same money in.

Yeah maybe but those here run away with the pot. Everyone understands that ponzi's are bound collapse at one point but a sincere admin wont run away once his targeted balance is reached. That doesn't seem to be the case with the admins here though.

so you think only hyip at bitcointalk, they always run with pot and never not have enough money left?
i think that is very silly accusation... you think that just at bitcointalk this is the case and no where else...

you have to understand that some site want to continue but can not because no activity. hyip suffer dead seasons and high seasons, many dead in the last few month not "scam". you need to know this, as i see you post in threads and kill GOOD projects, and support BAD projects.

since we are here on bitcointalk , hence why im talking about bitcointalk..i never said this dont happen out of bitcointalk so get your facts straight.

there are many greedy admins, you yourself know that... not saying they are all scams but most are.. you're saying that my comments on their threads kill their projects? lmao. people have brains and they know what to and not invest on mate regardless of what ever i post.

your comments may not be warranted...some project, you have to give credit they put hard work to be different from others,rihgt?
i am not attacking you, i am just saying, sometime if they are not scam it is best to keep quiet, let the game run. we all know that everything here is a game and eventually ends (all games end)

A little warning never hurts anyone...warranted or not ain't the issue here as people can judge the projects for them-self. Your service thread is a good one though, at-least people have a one stop thread now view the project/site status. Keep up the good work

you're right on warnings...
and thank you, doing my best to keep it update

small pot or big , it's a scam . always is

Did you happen to read any of this thread at all?  Basically I am asking people if they knew going into it, that they may not make their money back, and there was a trustworthy person holding the funds/playing the game.  Would they play?  Its a interesting game to try

If the site operator says something like "This is a game based on the Ponzi principle that later players' money pays earlier players' profits. The game will go on until new money coming in dries up, meaning the last players will lose"
then I personally, don't see a problem.

If the site operator says something like "We are a team of experts in Bitcoin since 2010 trading in Forex, arbitrage and cloudmining. We guarantee a 20% per week profit.... "
then I do see a problem.

Scamming is about lying. If you wouldn't trust people irl life who are probably lying, why would you send them your money just because BTC?

basically your odds are -100% lol.

and the chances to get more returns is based on the operator on how much they want to milk out.

people should already be aware of these things go.

and most dont really care honestly, i think its just a matter of them to see one works and cash out quick mentality.

It is a crime, because the whole thing is based on conning ingenuous people into investing, so the ones that came before them can profit.
If new people don't invest, then the whole thing falls apart. It's dishonest.

Not true, I've seen admins here closing without scamming. Oh by the way, sometimes an admin must runaway with a small pot because he can't afford to lose his investment (server, domain, DDoS, script and so on in terms of money).

Yeah, but rarely it happens.

When I see HYIP, I see most of them close and leave without a word. Those other ones that dont, do eventually end up doing the same at a later time which is the same thing.

Thanks for the answers everyone.  A few people were off topic, I am not asking if it is legal or not.  I am basically asking this:  If you know the site admin was trustworthy, and it was a complete 100% HYIP where they told you, the early people will get paid by the later people in the chain.  You will have full access to play as much as you want, and see the chain up to date.  There is a chance you will lose your money, as a matter of fact I promise someone will lose their money.  This is a gambling game, would you play?