庞氏骗局 Ponzi scheme

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from any actual profit earned.

The Ponzi scheme usually offers returns that other investments cannot guarantee in order to entice new investors, in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent.

The perpetuation of the returns that a Ponzi scheme advertises and pays requires an ever-increasing flow of money from investors in order to keep the scheme going.

The scheme is named after Charles Ponzi, who became notorious for using the technique after emigrating from Italy to the United States in 1903. Ponzi did not invent the scheme, but his operation took in so much money that it was the first to become known throughout the United States.

His original scheme was in theory based on arbitraging international reply coupons for postage stamps, but soon diverted investors' money to support payments to earlier investors and Ponzi's personal wealth.

“庞氏骗局是一个以人名“庞齐”命名的。1920年查尔斯•庞齐夸下海口，称他可以在3个月内使投资者交付他管理的资金翻番增值。庞齐手头其实并没有投资项目，他是用后期投资者交付的资金支付前期投资者，充作高额投资回报。后来资金链中断、“金字塔骗局”败露，投资者蒙受巨额损失，如换算成现行币值，相当于1.6亿美元。庞齐的下场如今似乎不再有人记得，而这类投资骗局从此得名“庞氏骗局”。而此次麦道夫“克隆”的骗局规模之大远超庞齐，因此有人建议将之称为“麦氏骗局”。