Last night, I set myself a goal of getting to 10 000$ in 24 months from online sources only. I started the search for online income in January 2021, and in these past 7 months, I sure have failed a lot. So, let's dive into that. 

Back in early March 2021 I had joined a few PTC (paid-to-click) sites and read on their forums about these 'wonderful' things called HYIPs. A high-yield investment program for anyone not familiar with the term, the point is, supposedly you will end up receiving your investment back and a huge percentage on top of it in a matter of days/weeks. I read the members on that forum had received crazy profits, so I got curious, I did some quite shallow research on HYIPs, and jumped on board. Little did I know, I lost and lost and kept on losing, in fact, I don't think I made a single cent back on those in all the time I had been part of them, they'd always become scams before I had the time to withdraw my investment. 

Somehow, I ended up finding myself on Russian HYIPs since they offered better profits and smaller initial investments. And, I do not speak a word of Russian for anyone interested, Google Translate helped me through the sign-ups and navigating the sites. From what I had learned, most Russian sites accepted Payeer as a method of payment, so I created an account there as well. Later on, I did figure that withdrawing directly to your card/bank is not possible and the fees for sending anything out of your wallet are a stab in the stomach. These days, I don't use it anymore unless absolutely necessary.

Well, I know you're curious about the sites and the amounts (I'd be at least) so let me share a bit.

#1 The worst of the worst

Funlite.ru - HYIP that's like a version of cloud mining I guess. You buy power to make your 'miner' faster
The first investment I ever made on a Russian site, and the biggest amount I lost over the course of time. Initially, I joined the site as a free member and was able to withdraw small amounts (few rubles here and there) without any issues whatsoever. Many Russian sites use vk.com (I suppose you could call it the 'Russian Facebook') as a way to connect the community, and this site as well had a group thread with only positive experiences and payment proofs from the users. After a few weeks, this convinced me to invest in their VIP program. BUT. Once I tried to withdraw something like 300 rubles (4.11$) at once, the site gave me an error telling me that I had to contact their customer service, so I did. The customer service told me I had to purchase a special package to withdraw such an amount at once, and no longer would I have any issues in the future with this. The inexperienced, blue-eyed moron I was at that point, I believed them. They said it'd take a few days to have the new server set up so I should just wait a bit. A few days later, I was blocked from their page, their private messages, and the account on their website without a word. I wasn't sure what had happened to make them have such a response, so I contacted some of the people I remember having seen on that group thread. The same had happened to them. 1 person with no issues with the site so far had asked 1 too many questions which led to them being blocked as well. At this point I was about to lose my shit, I had spent 28 304 rubles (387,38$) and I wasn't aware of the nature of HYIPs; The majority of HYIPs become scams sooner rather than later. This one earned the spot of #1 because it's one thing to lose money, but not only was the rug pulled out from under my feet, the scammers also deliberately led me on and lied to my face.

#2 This one made me give up

Medtech.biz - a traditional HYIP, you buy a package and wait for it to bring profit. This one was supposedly developing medical equipment and such. 
After the loss with Funlite, I was desperate to get at least a portion of my investment back with other sites, so I went on HYIP monitor, and searched for projects that had been around the longest so I wouldn't be left with such bitter taste in my mouth anymore. They promised 150% yield in a month so I threw in the minimum of 25$ and hoped for the best. The first week, no problem, the 2nd week, smooth sailing, the 3rd week... the site disappeared. I was thinking the world's laughing at my face, I really couldn't believe it. A program that had been up since 2018 just happened to mysteriously disappear legit 2 weeks after I decided to invest in it. 

#3 The battle of cons

I couldn't decide between typhoon-energy.com and zurishares.com, in each, I only lost 5$. Typhoon-energy screwed me over 3 days after I invested, and in zurishares I actually had done some clicking of ads to boost the time needed to withdraw the 5$ back. Both are crappy sites, both owners ran away with a bunch of money soon after, I feel lucky I didn't put in any more than this, but sadly I know some people did. 

Honorable mentions

fermagold.org - invested 50 rub, received 2.60 rub
ratecoin.site - invested 110 rub, received 79.58 rub
toprabota.host - invested 250 rub, received 83.22 rub
grando.fun - invested 182.27 rub, received 183.99 rub (Hey, looks like I was wrong, I gained 1,72 rub from this one!)
cremix.space - invested 45 rub, received 0 rub

        TOTAL LOSSES: 417,2$

Well. Seeing that number hurts. Many of these HYIPs were on at the same time, so the losses came crashing down on me at once basically. I had joined many many other sites too that became scams later on, but I never invested in them. I believe my HYIP craze lasted till mid-April 2021, so about 1.5 months, and I can't imagine where I'd be now if I hadn't stopped doing this to myself. The thing is though, I don't feel bad about it so much anymore, because I got probably the most valuable lesson of them all when it comes to investing, and now, I'd say I'm an expert when it comes to spotting investment scams. Also, I'm a somewhat glass half-full kinda person, so this experience led me to find better things to earn online. Maybe at some point I'll write a small guide about spotting scams, we shall see. 

Till next time!