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.

Generic synonyms: Scheme, Strategy

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

pyracanthas
pyracanths
pyracanthus
pyral
pyralid
pyralid moth
pyralidid
pyralidids
pyralids
pyralises
pyramid
pyramid-scheme
pyramid bugle
pyramid plant
pyramid scheme (current term)
pyramid schemes
pyramidal
pyramidal bone
pyramidal motor system
pyramidal neuron
pyramidal neurons
pyramidal number
pyramidal numbers
pyramidal tent
pyramidal tract
pyramidal tracts
pyramidalization
pyramidalizations
pyramidalize

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. ..."

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