Investment and crypto fraud · Also called HYIP, Ponzi scheme, pyramid investment scheme
Ponzi and high-yield investment programs
A Ponzi scheme pays earlier investors with money taken from newer ones, while claiming the returns come from trading, crypto mining, or another strategy. High-yield investment programs promise large daily or weekly returns the same way. They collapse when new money slows, and most investors lose what they put in.
How it works
- The scheme advertises high, steady returns from a vague or secret strategy, often involving crypto, trading bots, or mining.
- Early investors receive payouts, which are really other investors' deposits, and share their success with friends and online.
- Members are rewarded for recruiting others and encouraged to roll their returns over rather than withdraw.
- When new deposits slow, withdrawals are delayed or refused and the operators disappear or the platform shuts down.
Red flags
- Returns are promised to be high with little or no risk.
- Returns stay positive and steady regardless of what markets are doing.
- The strategy is secret or too complicated to explain, and the seller is not registered with a regulator.
- You earn bonuses for recruiting new investors.
- Payments are late or you are encouraged to roll them over instead of cashing out.
If you are targeted
- Stop contact and do not send more money or recruit anyone else.
- Do not pay any fee, tax, or charge to withdraw your money, and keep records of every deposit, payout, and message.
- Tell your bank or payment provider and ask about disputing recent payments.
- Report it. Our Report a scam page lists where to report in your country, such as ic3.gov and ReportFraud.ftc.gov in the US.
- Expect recovery scams: anyone who contacts you offering to get your money back for a fee, including people claiming to be lawyers, regulators, or the FBI, is running a second scam.
Prevention
For individuals
- Treat any guaranteed high return as a warning sign, because real investments go up and down.
- Check that both the seller and the investment are registered with your financial regulator.
- Do not invest because friends, family, or an online community are earning, since early payouts are how these schemes spread.
By the numbers
Figures are for the reporting category this scam falls under, not this scam alone.
| Investment fraud losses reported to the FBI IC3 in 2025 | $8.65B | US, 2025, FBI IC3 |
| Investment scam losses reported to the FTC in 2025 | $7.9B | US, 2025, FTC |
| Investment scam losses in the UK in 2025 (authorised push payment) | £221.5M | GB, 2025, UK Finance |
Real cases
No documented case in the atlas yet. New cases are added as they are sourced.
Delivered through: Social media ads and posts
How official datasets classify it
- FBI IC3
- Investment
- FTC
- Miscellaneous Investments & Investment Advice
- UK Finance
- Investment scam
- Scamwatch
- Investment scams
Questions
- What is a Ponzi scheme?
- It is an investment fraud that pays existing investors with money collected from new investors. It needs a constant flow of new money and collapses when that slows.
- I was paid returns. Does that mean it is real?
- No. Paying early investors is how a Ponzi scheme builds trust and attracts more money, so payouts are not proof of a real investment.