Ponzi
Scheme
Scheme noun - A clever often underhanded means to achieve an end.
Mutual synonyms
Both words in one sentence
- If commissions are paid for recruiting new members, the business becomes an illegal Ponzi scheme or pyramid scheme.
Source: Ponzi - The ending credits give the viewers an Edutainment section about what a Ponzi-scheme is and how it works, complete with the appropriate statistics of the 2008 financial crisis.
Source: Ponzi - As pointed out by Mitch Zuckoff (biographer of Charles Ponzi), an interesting thing about Ponzi schemers is that they have a tendency to buy into their own hype and would often try to keep the scheme going long after the "the-pyramid-is-already-falling-skip-town-immediately" date.
Source: Ponzi
Cite this Source
Scheme and Ponzi. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 13, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/ponzi/scheme
Ponzi & Scheme. N.p., 2016. Web. 13 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/ponzi/scheme>.
Scheme or Ponzi. 2016. Accessed August 13, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/ponzi/scheme.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "Ponzi" and "scheme" have occurred on timeline