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Definition of Pyramid scheme
1. Noun. A fraudulent scheme in which people are recruited to make payments to the person who recruited them while expecting to receive payments from the persons they recruit; when the number of new recruits fails to sustain the hierarchical payment structure the scheme collapses with most of the participants losing the money they put in.
Definition of Pyramid scheme
1. Noun. An illicit money-making investment scheme whereby early investors are paid primarily or wholly by later investors. Eventually all such schemes fail to the detriment of recent (later) investors. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Lexicographical Neighbors of Pyramid Scheme
Literary usage of Pyramid scheme
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Spamming: The E-Mail You Want to Can: Congressional Hearing edited by W. J. Tauzin (2001)
"Another recent case, this time targeting an alleged pyramid scheme that centered
on spam, is FTC v. Martinetti.13 The defendants in that case ran DP ..."
2. Social Security: Issues in Comparing Rates of Return With Market Investments by DIANE Publishing Company (2000)
"^This relationship between returns and wage growth helps explain why Social
Security is not a "Ponzi" or pyramid scheme. It is mathematically impossible for ..."
3. Russian Money Laundering: Congressional Hearing edited by James A. Leach (2001)
"But granddad's penny was one hundredth of a gold-backed dollar's value, while
today's dollar is the product of a government-operated pyramid scheme. ..."