Who Was Ponzi & What Was His Scheme?
Article by ETHAN TREX Charles Ponzi What is a Ponzi scheme? And why does it bear this name? First, you need to know a little bit about its namesake, Charles Ponzi. Anyone can work a simple swindle, but you have to be a special kind of con man to have your name become synonymous with "fraud." Ponzi pulled it off, though. After arriving in the U.S. from Italy in 1903, Ponzi knocked around in a variety of unskilled jobs that usually ended when he got into trouble for theft or cheating customers. A few years later, he moved to Canada, where he spent a hitch in prison for passing a forged check. When he eventually drifted back down to the U.S., he needed a way to make some quick cash. Making Money via Mail Ponzi eventually found his way to get rich quick using a vagary of the postal system. At the time, it was common for letters abroad to include an international reply coupon "“ a voucher that could be exchanged for minimum postage back to the country fro...