Chapter 11. Ponzi scheme
“The sure way to be cheated is to think one’s self more cunning than others.” | ||
| --Francois De La Rochefoucauld | ||
If scammers had a national holiday, it would be March 3—it was on March 3, 1882, that Charles Ponzi was born. Ponzi was the early scammer who conned Bostonians through a scam that is still with us today and has come to be known as a Ponzi scheme—a scam flexible enough to adapt to changes in society and simple enough to stand the test of time. It is also effective enough to have cheated people for almost a hundred years with no sign of slowing down.
In essence, the Ponzi scheme is the classic pyramid scam—an investment advisor claims to be getting really good returns on your money when, in fact, he or she is merely ...
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