Red flags are often used to warn bathers to stay out of the sea, and usually there are several placed along the beach.

As investors, can we discern the red flags that help us avoid the shifting currents, shifting sands, hidden rocks, maybe even the sharks?

If not then we are taking a huge gamble with our money. There are a lot of scammers out there who are only too willing to separate us from our cash.

So, here`s a few of what I consider to be the warning red flags in the HYIP Arena, especially those new programs that appear without any history to go by.

First impressions are important, so, does the site look professional, or was it hastily put together. Does it have the `feel` of quality? If the site is for a mainly English speaking audience, is the English of a good standard, or are there glaring spelling mistakes and grammatical errors? Obviously a good looking site isn`t proof that a program is genuine, witness FLO, but it`s an indicator if it isn`t.

High rates, too good to be true, and they`re not true in the vast majority of cases. Personally I prefer to see a program offering variable rates, which hopefully indicates that they are doing actual trading with the money. This to me is an obvious one.

Guaranteed deposits! Rubbish, how can anyone guarantee deposits with HYIP`s? Which insurance company will guarantee against loss of deposits?

Backed by NYSE, Forex Trading, loans, investments and so on. See the proof.

Standard, off the shelf scripts, which can be purchased and set up for less than $100.00

Claims that they`ve been around for years, yet no-one`s ever heard of them, and all the evidence points to the program being only recently launched.

WHOIS which contradicts what is stated on the site about ownership, location etc.

FAQ`s or statements on the site that they can`t answer this, that and the other due to `security` issues.

And last in my short list, `Trust me` `You can have confidence in me` `We will deliver` and `We promise.`

Now this list is far from exhaustive, so what red flags do you look for?

Geoff

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Admin who doesn't reply to member.
Search the name in google, if it doesn't find a thing about the company/site, other than the one link to the site, then be very careful and wait for a bit.
Search for "[name] scam" in google to find if they have had problems as well...

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Those were good red flags, Geoff.

I also use Trinary's, particularly searching "(Program Name) scam" in Google. Yields some pretty interesting results at times.

Good support is not necessarily a sign that a program's genuine but one with a bad one is definitely a no-no.

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Good flags, forwardone.
I would add
- instant payments
- too many investment plans or too big difference between plans
- deep referal system
- pictures of the admin (yes, this is a red flag for me, because they are usually fake)

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I would add, that I dismiss sites that uses a script.
If it looks too familiar, then it is often copied. Red flag to me.

Go through the FAQ section. I was surprised when I first realized how many programs use the exact same FAQ - does it come with the script? Red flag to me.

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Good flag here, clifton. I don't trust programs that brandish the pic of the admin too. That's why I never invested even a penny in Sunflower.

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good idea... then what do you think about limracorp's new venture involving skynet, that shows skynet's admin pic, FutureGizmo?

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