Criminal suits against ColonyInvest and Blue Ocean Siam

According to a report from Nov 11, 2010 in the Nation (Bangkok), the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) filed cases against two pyramid schemes, one the ominous Colony Invest (colonyinvest), see the report.

Pyramid scam leader convicted.

The BBC News reports today on a Chinese man, who masterminded a pyramid scheme. Investors lost a total of ~250 Million US$, and the man was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Any investment opportunity that promises unrealistic returns, such as HYIPs etc. are simply a fraudulent pyramid scheme.

The biggest pyramid scheme of them all... 50 Billion dollars gone

This is arguably the biggest con of all times: It is the pyramid scheme of former stock exchange chairman Bernard "Bernie" Madoff. Over 50 Billion U$ have disappeared, see these BBC reports: 1, 2.
The old adage holds true: If it's too good to be true, it's not true. This should be a wake-up call to all people investing into HYIPs, and other investments that promise high returns. These things are just plain fraud. In case of Madoff, he got away with it for so long, because he "only" offered 10% in return. But as can be seen, even in this case it was a scam.

Thousands of Columbians defrauded in pyramid scheme

Defrauded investors have rioted in several cities in Columbia. They were cheated out of their savings in a pyramid investment scheme, and now the crooks have closed shop, though some have been caught.
See the BBC News for the full report.

wollenberginternational is also down

In case you have not noticed, well, not surprisingly, wollenberginternational.com is also down.

But new HYIPs will always pop up - perhaps the same guy under another name - to collect more money from gullible victims.
Don't fall for it.

ColonyInvest closed down, people loose millions in Thailand/Vietnam

Police have moved in on the ColonyInvest fraudsters, the Nation, Bangkok, reports. Many people have lost millions of baht in this fraudulent pyramid scheme. See The Nation.
Also in Vietnam people have been cheated out of Billions of VND by the pyramid scheme. Police have arrested 15 people. See Thanhnien News.com.

We have warned here against ColonyInvest since June 2007.
This just serves as a reminder that all these schemes that promise exceedingly high interest rates, these so-called HYIPs, are fraudulent. While they may pay some money in the beginning, this money comes from other investors, and not from proper investments, which never have such high rates of interest. The whole thing just collapses whenever the mastermind decides to run away with the money.

More info on HYIPs and scams

Catty Shaq has more infos and discussions of HYIPs and other online money making scams. It also has information on the e-Gold court case.

HYIPs are essentially scams.

Here is a nice explanation of how the HYIP (High Yield Investment Programs) scams (i.e. Colonyinvest, Wollenberg, SNGInvest, etc.) operate, see WorldLawdirect. It is similar to what you can find on HYIP in Wikipedia.
A simple fact is: "Warren Buffett, one of the world's most successful investors, made around 30% per year during his most successful period." So, any claims of higher profits by HYIPs cannot be real.

Very interesting is also the fact the e-gold, which is used by many HYIP programs as a way to transfer the funds is itself indicted on charges of money laundering, conspiracy, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, see WLD forum thread on e-gold.